We spent the rest of the day in my grove, hanging out with the guys and relishing the opportunity to just… chill. We were safe for now, we had a lot of good food, a place to cook it inside and buns to cuddle. Also someone else was out in Millowhall making us money, that was nice too.

Despite what we’d said way back in ancient history, otherwise known as that morning, Grace and I did not get intimate that night. With the tree still lacking any internal doors, we were scared to try anything, lest the guys hear us. So we just sort of cuddled our way to sleep as usual, except with a metric fuckload of sexual tension hanging between us now, more so than before. First thing I was doing when I had money was getting this place kitted out with some doors and windows.

Obviously the guys had noticed that we were closer now, but we hadn’t outright done anything that would signal to them just how close. We also hadn’t discussed it, just sort of… mutually decided not to make out in front of them. I had no idea why I personally felt the need to keep them in the dark, and I hadn’t asked Grace either. I guess we just wanted it to be between us for now? I had no idea. We still hadn’t talked about what to call things between us either.

The next day, we went back to meet Jerril, Mer and Otho, this time with Troy as well Grace. Troy and Jerril seemed to hit it off well, and all six of us took a trip into my grove so that I could show the Stonechasers what I had in stock, and what I could grow. Jerril already had several types of wood that eager carpenters were keen to get their hands on. Surprisingly, it was actually local woods they were the most interested in.

Turns out that obrec only harvested wood that had fallen naturally, and several species of trees were more likely to grow into twisted, unusable shapes than not. Those two facts combined meant that there was a massive shortage of wood from those trees. My job would be to replicate those trees, but in a manner that meant they were usable.

So while Jerril took my stock of wood off to sell, as well as source some tools for my buns to cut down the new trees I’d be growing, Mer and Otho took me on a trip down to the floor of the canyon. The idea was to have me inspect the trees that they wanted down there in the forest, so I had a good enough understanding of them.

The way down was slightly terrifying, even for someone like me who wasn’t afraid of heights. On one of the lower, larger bridges was a set of lifts that would lower people down. The lifts, essentially massive cages, did nothing to help with the dizzying heights, and Grace clung to me the whole way down. The wind causing the lift to sway had even me feeling queasy about this endeavour.

“This is… something,” Troy remarked as the clanking mechanisms high above us lowered us down into the mists. It felt like we were entering a wholly different world, one of nothing but the cage around us, the mists, and the gentle creaking of the chains that held us up.

The mists soon turned out to be clouds, and the vista that spread out in a line before and behind us was breathtaking. A forest, ancient beyond measure stretched out down the broken and smashed canyon floor.

I was starting to wonder if these mountains had been intentional or not on the part of the Umare. Surely terrain like this wasn’t what passed for natural on the ring?

“Mer, what was the old obrec home world like?” I asked after a few moments of thought.

“Hmm? Well, from what little records we have left, it was a mountainous one, but of the more normal kind, like the ones to the north past the human Empire of Ghraiga,” she said, face all scrunched up as she tried to remember what she knew. “Like this place, it had many forests in the valleys between the mountains. There was also talk of a huge, uh… moon, I think is the term in Anve.”

That made sense. A large moon would pull on their home world, creating a lot of tectonic activity. I was willing to bet that they lived up in the mountains because the coasts would be a little rough, with huge tides and frequent earthquakes sending tsunamis crashing ashore every couple of years. It left the question of why they used stone to build though, it wasn’t the greatest material for earthquake safety. Maybe that had used wood back then? I was making a lot of assumptions though, and the least of which was my poor knowledge of geology.

The cage touched down far more gently than I’d expected on the specially constructed stone platform at the bottom. The platform was more of a small fort, crouched on the forest floor to protect the lifts as they touched down. Apparently the forests down here were rather lawless, with forest obrec tribes who bowed to no one regularly raiding the millowhall obrec when they ventured below.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“We won’t be going very far in, some of the locals gave us directions to find the trees we want,” Otho explained as the door was opened and we stepped out.

It was a short trip out of the utilitarian stone fort before we found our way into the forest. Up close, the forest seemed even more ancient, and it was hard to tell if any of the trees I was looking at were even alive. I mean, I guess the tops had leaves on them, but the trunks were covered in lichen, mushrooms and moss.

The forest floor was much the same, dense with wet foliage and choked by the thick canopy above. I was surprised that plant life could even live with so little light under all those leaves and at the bottom of this big hole.

Our journey took us between the moss covered trees and through the misty, damp undergrowth. It was downright creepy in there with the odd, unfamiliar animal sounds filtering through from around us. It didn’t help that the wind was causing a racket above us, howling and rustling through the trees. If someone had said, ‘spooky haunted forest’ to me, this was what I’d have imagined.

So of course, what followed was a nice, peaceful guided tour of said haunted forest. I got to inspect a lot of trees and plants with my mage sight, pointing out little details to Grace as I went. It was nice to have someone else who could see all this stuff, it had been getting kind of lonely in the realm of magic.

Grace also had enough of an understanding about plant life that she was able to follow along. I’d been surprised at first, it had been so long since that first week that I’d forgotten she was selected to be the co-leader of our little foraging party. She actually knew a thing or two, being a farm girl. With her help I was able to make sure I remembered all the details that I needed to know in order to grow my own versions of these trees.

We saw a few other parties out in the woods, foraging for various materials. We were also stopped once by a pair of Mossbed rangers who were simply checking that we were abiding by the rules. All in all, the trip was pretty uneventful, no bandit attacks or scary whistling creatures jumping out of the forest. Just atmospheric spook.

When we got back up a few hours later, Jerril had already found eager buyers for the wood I’d given him, and rather than taking the offered coins, I gave him a list of things I needed. The list included things like the doors and windows, which would probably need measurements and the like, but also furniture, cutlery, and a whole lot of other things.

I also secretly tasked Mer with finding me a pillow shop. Because like, who wouldn’t want to get alien pillows for their pillow collection? I mean, unless they didn’t collect pillows. Something that had always limited my collection was storage space and portability. I had to be able to transport my collection in the past, but now I had a whole tree I could stuff full of pillows! Big, soft fluffy ones were no longer wishful thinking. I briefly wondered if I could get a bed-sized pillow commissioned, but decided to file that idea away for later.

The next few days were spent in a similar manner, growing things to sell, then buying the things I needed for my grove and my tree. Turns out that completely furnishing a big tree tower required a whole ton of stuff, and that wasn’t even mentioning all the little things that were needed. Soap holders for example, as well as a proper kitchen setup, the range of random odds and ends that were required just boggled the mind.

Especially the minds of our Stonechaser friends, who were growing more and more awed by the fortune I was amassing and then spending with their help. They were getting a small cut out of everything they brokered too, which was making them a little giddy.

Doorways and windows were measured and specs were sent off. I asked for them to be made in the obrec style, since it was pretty close to what I liked. Wrought iron bound wood was their go-to, and it would look good beside the rest of the naturally grown tree. The same was happening for the furniture, which didn’t have to be hand crafted like the doors and windows.

By the end of day three in the city we had a bunch of tables, chairs, sofas and beds all throughout the happy little tree. Grace and I finally had a real bed, and it was a monster of a thing. I’d made sure to get a big one for us, because… well if I could almost literally grow money, why not?

I just hoped I wasn’t damaging the local economy too much, although I guess I wouldn’t be keeping too much hard currency, since it wouldn’t be very useful once back in Avonside. That meant that at least I wasn’t taking money out, just… tanking the local wood market instead. Oops.

We were also doing our best to stock up on anything and everything that Avonside might need too. The list was huge, and I had Kit handling most of that, since the dude was highly intelligent and knew what was in short supply.

The whole thing had the Stonechasers happier and happier with us, and the local citizens were starting to take notice too. My name, Grace’s name and the name of our order was floating on the lips of many within the drinking halls, and once or twice Troy had to play bodyguard as people tried to talk to us.

We had yet to source any magical tech, as well as books on magecraft and the like, but I figured the mages of the city would be taking notice of us sooner rather than later. I was throwing an awful lot of magic around after all. I just hoped that when they did, it was a pleasant conversation. I could hope, right?