The guards, councillors and the Prabhu awaited them outside the Hall of Phalapatrah. Together, the group marched along the many walkways of the town. Lirran saw the bustling town of interconnected structures and walkways of the town give way to rows upon rows of trees like an endless hall of pillars, ropes spanning between the trees and on these ropes, both workers and baskets pulled by ropes travelled. Vines, stalks and creepers grew at the base of the trees upwards, higher up the trees bore fruit but also cultured and shaped branches that reminded Lirran of the very weapons the guards accompanying them wielded, but in a raw shape.

Saraswati explained to the two foreigners that the old grove was a place where once the seer lived and from where an ancient site could be reached. At that site, offerings and sacrifices would be made by the tribes of the past, but with the coalescence into the large town and surrounding villages, these customs were abandoned, the spirits instead given to be assuaged by the seer.

They arrived at that grove of ancient trees that had a large clearing around them, large enough to break the canopy and across which a bridge hung above a ground covered in bramble with thorns long enough to pierce all the way through Lirran’s arm. The board construction within the grove was elaborate, cobbled together out of rooms and compartments of varying age, size and style. It was also more considerate of the trees than most other houses Lirran had seen. It in places even squeezed in between the branches rather than the branches carrying them. The windows were shuttered where possible, invaded by the plants and animals where not, branches had started to sprawl and push across the structure.

“How long has the seer been dead?”

Saraswati answered with a sad mien. “A few months. His only student is missing. Some accuse him of murder, others say he fled to safety from the actual murderers who sought to bring calamity on our town. Either way, we cannot reach him.”

“Did you have some connection to him?”

Saraswati hesitated but answered. “He would often tell stories to the children and he allowed me to sit closest because he knew I was different.”

“I am sorry for your loss.”

The carriers put down Kaza’s barrel and one of the Prabhu’s counsellors spoke to Lirran. “Only you go in. The waterkin cannot touch any soil or tree beyond this point.”

Lirran looked to Kaza. When she looked into his eyes he could tell the true meanings of the words she spoke. “I will wait here. You do go on without me and prove the purity of your heart and show your will. Nature raw will seek entrance through your body.” What she actually meant was They will hold me hostage so that you return. If you let yourself be subdued by the spirits, they will kill me.

Lirran nodded. “Thank you, my Navigator. I will be back.”

When Lirran stepped onto the bridge, Saraswati and the Protector General accompanied him. “We will make sure you find your way through the old grove." She said and the Protector General, still scowling at Lirran, kept his hand on the grip of his sword-club.

The bridge swayed little as they walked across it, but the land around Lirran still seemed to shift and move. He could feel the presence of more than just leaves and thorns, something that was without a counterweight. The bridge ended at a small platform between two trees of the grove, from where Saraswati climbed ahead on a vine into the first room of the building, the largest of all. Lirran followed her as well as the Protector General behind him.

The entrance hall was illuminated only by shafts of light poking through the windows that were already being closed off by branches and vines. Scurrying noises on the floorboards and rugs told Lirran of many tiny things that had made their home here now. The walls were made from bent boards meeting at the top into an arc, like standing in half a barrel. On these bent walls were paintings of figures. At the very bottom trees holding up mortals, at the apex were divine beings handing down gifts or sending out rays to smite evil things. In ebtween them were spirits floating in the guise of animals, living side by side but separate from the people. On small tables stood vases with plants now wilted and dead, some of the spherical bushes he had seen before.

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Saraswati was slowly walking through the room, looking at things with sadness in her eyes. “This was the entrance hall where the seer would welcome guests. He would also read stories to us children here.”

At the end of the room was a stage, not unlike the Hall of Phalapatrah, but much smaller and lower. The back part of this stage was closed off by a curtain that ways dirty and frayed, half torn down. Saraswati wanted to walk through it, but flinched back.

The Protector general drew his weapon and took long steps forward. “What is it? Is something there?”

“No, maybe. I felt something. I can’t see anything.”

The Protector General himself stopped at the curtain and turned to Lirran. “You should give up, boy, if the spirits stop even us here, you have no chance of success.”

But Lirran didn’t listen. He stepped to the curtain and pushed it aside. He could feel it, a will pushing into a void left by the absence of another will, like the roof of a hut sagging down after the central pillar had been crumbled by flames, just about to collapse. He felt the strength with which the forest on the outside sought to get inside, the fingers of a fist trying to crush a hollow eggshell.

“The seer used to uphold this place.”

“Yes.” Saraswati stood close behind him. “Nobody was allowed beyond this point without his permission. Only people whose future he read personally ever went beyond.”

“Did any of you?”

Both of them nodded. The Protector General spoke up. “All those on the council had to be approved by him, me included. I guess the child of prophecy here was more privy to his private quarters than anyone.”

Lirran turned around to Saraswati and saw she was shocked at that statement. “Child of Prophecy? Do you have a deeper connection to this place, Malati?”

But Saraswati shook her head. “No! Not at all.” She hesitated a moment. “Some say there was a prophecy on the day that I was born.”

“What prophecy?” Lirran had been inducted in a few secrets on the nature of prophecies, he could tell a normal dreamer from a prophetic one, which he would not touch but seek the priests to interpret. He knew when people were touched by unseeable influences, but little more than that.

“I cannot tell you or anyone. Only the seer and his student can. But I can tell you I was not invited into any other chambers than the council members, to diffuse any rumours of uncouthness.”

The Protector General growled out of the corner of his mouth. “How convenient the veil of secrecy is to you.”

Lirran said nothing, but merely summoned his own will. He knew he willed to step into this chamber and beyond; his journey was not yet over. He took this step and passed into the hallway beyond the curtain.

The other two merely watched him, then he turned around. “You can follow me if you wish or leave me to my fate here. I just need to know how to find this most sacred of places beyond the hut.”

“Go on alone.” The Protector General made a few gestures indicating directions. “You will find three doors beyond this point, one of them with a black curtain. Through there must the exist to the oldest part of the forest lie. All I have ever seen from the outside is a bridge of living vines and branches. From beyond there, you can only return if the spirits allow it. Bring us a token of the spirits’ approval and you will be free to go.”

“What kind of token?”

“You will know when it is given, we will recognize when we see it, for it is our land, after all.”

Lirran nodded. Suddenly, Saraswati rushed the gap to him, like jumping across a racing torrent. She grabbed his arm with scared fingers and a waft of her scent came to Lirran, drove away the dust in the still air of the place. “Promise me you’ll be safe!”

He looked into her eyes and saw her plea and he felt something. He felt the will of the outside pressing on him and he felt the same thing was pushing into her, with her being much less aware or fit to fight against it. Both of them were called to raw, untamed nature that wished to indulge in their indulgence. He pushed her away.

“I will be safe. You keep Kaza company. She might often seek loneliness, but here, she cannot even wander around, promise?”

Sraswati nodded eagerly, a last wish and urge flashed across her face, but she did not move closer again. He knew a single step more and even he would not have been able to shield them from this will. This place needed a keeper that made sure that there was a balance between nature and humans, a pact that was held as agreed.

He turned forward and went on alone.