“I already have a bad feeling about this,” Natalie grimaced, looking up at the natives, “I do not want to get the ‘helpless child’ treatment from a bunch of giants.”

“It can’t be helped,” Sanders told her, “All of our ages are missing a zero.”

“A zero?” Leon asked, “Does that mean all of them are hundreds of years old?”

“Yes,” Sanders confirmed.

“Hopefully that means that they wouldn’t have the same sort of ‘helpless child’ treatment here,” Howard muttered, “but in this situation, it does come to our advantage. If they see us as children they will be more willing to teach us about this world.”

Natalie looked like she wanted to disagree, but it was true that if it came to the knowledge of this world they were like naive children.

“They want to take us to meet someone they call the Sage,” Sanders interpreted, “From the images they are sending, I think she is the leader of their colony.”

Selina flinched. “That is a bit too quick, don’t you think?” she asked.

“We don’t have to stay there,” James brought up, “It should be fine to at least take a peak so we can make a more educated decision.”

Howard nodded. “If we never check it out, we will remain clueless. I would like to meet this Sage of theirs.”

Selina stared at Howard for a moment. “Did Howard just say he wanted to meet someone?”

“It is not like I want to become friends,” Howard sighed, “and for all I know I might actually get along better with the people here.”

“That’s true,” Miranda agreed, “This might be a society that won’t reject us. On the other hand, it could be more strict.”

“We will have to tread lightly,” James agreed then turned his gaze to Jonathan.

Jonathan smiled back. “If I cause trouble here you can just tell the truth about us being unrelated persons who just happened to be travelling together.”

“That might not work,” James pointed out, “Just try to be careful, alright?”

“I will try,” Jonathan promised insincerely.

Sanders conveyed their intentions to meet the Sage to the natives and they started walking into the trees.

Even though it was night, it was quite easy to maneuver through the forest. The glowing from the teal leaves was far dimmer than a streetlamp, but when it was coming from hundreds of leaves from the trees above and some from the starts and bushes below there was little chance of tripping over something unseen.

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Howard noticed that the dirt had a green tinge to it, but it could have just been an effect of the lighting. As they continued walking they heard the sounds of water running nearby. When they came upon the stream it shimmered beautifully and illuminated an elegant wooden gondola resting at the bank.

The boat was long, and the wood was a polished red ochre. In the center of the gondola, there were three seats on either side, facing each other. There was a long oar set against the stern where the gondola would stand.

“We won’t all be able to fit,” Natalie noticed.

There were eight of them, and three of the natives. While the gondolas could seat six, plus the gondolier that was certainly not enough.

Sanders gestured over to one of the natives who had left to bring the second gondola closer.

“We get to travel to the alien colony in style,” Miranda whispered with sparkling eyes, “I always wanted to go on a gondola ride, but I never actually got to it.”

“I think this might be slightly different than the gondola rides in Venice,” Leon commented, but obediently stepped into the first gondola.

Howard followed suit and the boat wobbled slightly under him, but it was less than he expected. He took a seat across from Leon to keep the balance.

Everyone else followed suit and two of the natives took the position of gondoliers and began to guide the boats forward. As they glided down the stream they began to see something in the distance. There was some sort of city surrounded by a moat and a wall made of living trees, but the buildings looked a little odd.

As they got closer Howard began to see the buildings on the edges better and paused. The buildings looked like they were flowers, buds, and other plant life that had just grown into existence.

Jonathan’s wild smile grew wider as he gazed at the sight. “I wonder what sort of formula was used to create such wonderful architecture.”

“Based on how this world appears so far and Sanders it is more likely to be magic, right?” Selina pointed out. She was also captivated by the incredible city before them.

It was more like a farming colony than a city, though. The houses were far enough apart that they could barely be called neighbors, but not quite as far apart as the truly rural farms. Each house definitely had an acre or two though. For some reason Howard found the idea that everyone lived at that sort of distance from each other comfortable.

More than that the waterways continued within the colony, and they swept right past the wall into the city itself. They seemed to be heading toward a particularly large building in the center.

This building was shaped like a full rose with gradient silver and white, and the lightest of blues at the very base.It seemed that all of the waterways met at this particular building, almost seeming like shimmering vines stretching throughout the entire colony.

The closer they got the larger the rose became. It rivaled an apartment complex in height and perhaps a mansion in overall space. The gondola glided right under the lowest petals and docked at a bank that fit it perfectly just inside the first layer.

The natives then guided them through more layers of petals until they reached a large space in the center. Small streams from each of the channels met at the fountain in the middle of the room. They were each perhaps four or five inches wide.

The fountain was multilayered and resembled a winding morning glory with water spilling out of the flower cups and trickling down the leaves. Next to the fountain was a tall woman with skin the color of the night sky, soft aqua eyes and shining silver hair. She was the tallest that they had seen so far and was surrounded by an air of authority.

{I am Veda, the Sage. How did children such as yourselves end up in the nearby forest?} she asked.

Her voice carried easily but she had not moved her mouth so she must have been using telepathy like the others. However, her telepathy was at a much stronger level and was able to pierce their minds with ease when they could barely grasp strong ideas from the others.

Sanders stepped forward. {The others cannot speak since they were betrayed by their homes. Allow me to answer on everyone’s behalf until they recover.}

There was so much more than words in what Sanders shared with their minds. When he spoke of betrayal there were the memories of being sent off into space and taken in by the Vortex. Even the fear of death was conveyed.

Veda elegantly bowed her head in sorrow. {Of course. I will offer what I am sure my subjects have already. Please, come to the safety of my territory.}

There was an honest plea conveyed with her words along with images of fierce predators out in the wild. The natives seemed to be a peaceful race and did not have many ways of fighting against them. Thus the Sage feared for their lives.

{We appreciate the offer, but can you give us some time to think? Now that we have seen this place and met you we can make a proper decision,} Sanders proposed.

{That is reasonable,} the Sage agreed and gestured the guides over to take us back to the shuttle, {but in the meantime allow me to send someone with you to keep you safe.}

The three natives from before came to guide them back, and would likely also be the one protecting them until they gave their answer. It seemed as if they thought that their acceptance was inevitable.