Difference between revisions of "TreeOfBounties/TreePeople"

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When We Last Left Our Heroes

Tables and chairs grow up from the floor here, too; it looks like, at one point, low-hanging branches were trained to form more furniture, but have long since followed their own random paths. There are some steps set into the trunk of the tree, leading up into the spreading branches. Near the foot of the steps, there are some piles of things which look like they were purposefully arranged. Mainly unusually-colored stones, but also some (normal) fruit, most of which is quite rotten.

The sun is beginning to move down the western sky, but is still high enough that it is shining through the Tree of Bounties' canopy, painting the rooftop in chiaroscuro blotches.

Topaz glances up at the sky, through the sky ... maybe this isn't going to be so bad...

Atop the Tree

From this vantage point, almost the entire clearing is visible. To the north, the reddening sunlight glistens off water and white stone; a small pond has formed at the bottom of what looks to be a mostly-intact amphitheatre.

Much closer to the tower, to the north, other pools of water can be seen. Steam rises from three small pools, surrounded by more white rubble. The stones nearest the pools are stained yellow and ochre.

The mosaic courtyard which the three noticed earlier is the only other major landmark; miscellaneous ruins are strewn about the rest of the large clearing.

Topaz quickly, once he gets over the sheer height of the manse, acclimates himself to the visage -- looking at various ruins below, and the flooded ampitheatre, a combination of awe and a desire to get a good feel for the clearing...

Echo looks out over the clearing and rests for a bit, sore after the long day of treking and exploring.

Hasan is rather slower to adjust to the sights laid out before them, simply staring out across the jungle with a dazed smile upon his face. After a time, he ambles over to the strange piles of stones near the steps up, with a view to finding a comfortable seat for a moment.

The stones display a number of unusual colors and patterns; many of them look like they come from streambeds, judging by their smooth appearance. Some spoiled fruit, in various stages of decomposition, is arranged near the stones.

Although the arrangement has been disturbed, most likely by monkeys after the fruit, Hasan is certain that it was made by human (or human-like) hands. The way in which the fruits and stones are arranged relative to one another suggests that the fruit were intended as a sort of ritual offering.

Hasan frowns at the stones for a short moment before speaking. "Ah. My friends, it would appear something more sophisticated than monkeys has been arranging ritual offerings here."

Topaz glances back at Haban, curious, an eyebrow raised. Echo looks up from contemplating the clearing toward Hasasn.

"You see this arrangement here? And the fruit, though now scattered aside?" Hasan points them out.

Topaz nods, he does. He moves over closer, taking a closer look at the arrangement. Echo walks over to looks at the stones.

Shaking his head, Hasan looks down at the stones. "No monkey made this display. Nor the wood spiders, I'd hazard."

"Why not the wood spiders?" Topaz questions, lightly, still looking over the arrangement...

Above, near where the "stairway" planks vanish into the canopy, monkeys hoot and holler.

"What need do they have to placate something with an offering?" wonders Hasan, half in answer and half in wondering what the wood-spirits would indeed find troublesome enough to need such offerings to keep at bay.

Topaz stops investigating a bit, to ponder that, frowning... he imagines a few answers. He shivers a bit, and then goes back to inspecting the arrangement.

"In any case," Hasan notes, waving his hands vaguely at Topaz, "they lack the proper hands to arrange things so."

Topaz just nods.

Echo studies the arrangement more carefully, hoping to glean something from it. "In any case it's best not to disturb it, especially since we don't know if something other than monkeys is living on the other end of those stairs."

Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the stones are arranged in a representative pattern. Smooth, plain-colored stones form a stylized tree trunk and branches; more colorful stones seem meant to evoke fruit. The actual fruit has been arranged near the crown of the "tree," around a particularly shiny, colorful stone. Hasan and Topaz suspect that this offering was intended for the tree itself.

"My! This offering was intended for the tree itself!" Topaz lets that out, nice and loud.

Hasan quirks an eyebrow at his scholarly companion's outburst. Topaz looks all excited at Hasan, and explains how he reached this explanation, complete with overwraught hand-gestures and narrative.

Above them, the tree's canopy looms darkly, punctuated with jewel-bright glints of color from the myriad fruits dangling from its branches.

Nodding at the savant's explanation, Hasan looks upward to regard the canopy they must soon venture into, and frowns at the monkeys hooting at them from up there. "Then let us see what can be seen, and witness for ourselves why it is worth making such offerings, hm?"

No fruit or excrement is raining down on them yet; the simians seem to be keeping their distance from the interlopers for now.

"Shall we go up then?" suggests Echo.

Casting a brief glance back at his fellows, Hasan nods and begins making his way up the steps. Echo follows closely behind.

The steps -- little more than white stone planks set into the trunk -- have no railings, and have moved apart due to centuries of tree growth, but are broad and easily passable. They quickly enter the canopy, a maze of twisting branches and large, sawtoothed leaves.

Topaz follows up, after some of the others have already left, looking up with big-ole' eyes at the trees. "Wait for meeeee!"

Fruits of all kinds are very much in evidence; these include the wine-bottle and fish fruit which fell on them earlier, as well as the glowing fruits which lit the interior of the tower.

They presently reach an intersection of sorts; the stairs discharge onto a small, slightly askew platform of similar white planks. Two more "stairways" lead off, along the sides of two largely horizontal branches; a third continues spiraling upward along the main trunk. Above this platform, many fruits hang. Most of them are covered in what appears to be white feathers. Echo makes note of this, drawing on the map he's been working on.

Topaz looks at one of these white-featered fruits, curious. "I wonder what kind of fruit this is..." Peering closer, Topaz sees that the fruits' rinds look like they are sprouting chicken feathers. In fact, the fruits are shaped much like giant drumsticks. Topaz grins, as he realizes.

Hasan meanwhile steps onto the first plank of the stairway straight up, a little too curious now to see the hearthstone chamber he presumes is up there.

Somewhere off to the left, foliage rustles; eyes reflect briefly, and shadowy monkey shapes are visible, perching on branches as they observe the three men's progress. As soon as they notice they're being watched back, they swing off into the darker depths of the canopy.

Echo, not wanting to be left behind, follows him up. Topaz follows after Echo, after grinning at the chicken-fruit some more.

After a couple dozen steps, they reach another platform, with more paths leading off up and to the sides. Here, near the heart of the tree's canopy, it is quite dark; without the light of a few luminescent fruit hanging nearby, it would be difficult to see. Some other fruit, dangling off to the side but within arm's reach, has the sheen of glazed pottery.

"Pottery?" Hasan gazes at the fruits in bafflement. Food, fish, wine, glowing liquid; all these things seem positively ordinary in comparison to growing ceramic fruits.

Some are tall and vase-shaped, while others look almost spherical, with a seam around the middle -- almost like two bowls stuck together. Some smaller fruits look like they would make serviceable teacups if their stems were removed. Topaz glances at the dazzling differne types of fruits and their darkened surroundings -- it's like a whole other world.

Curiosity overtaking him, Echo moves to inspect the fruits closer. "This place is astounding." He pauses "I wonder if the pottery decays like the other fruit we've seen..."

"I've never heard of anything like it..." Topaz just awes.

Shaking his head in amazement, Hasan takes a couple more steps upward and stops, keeping a bemused watch while they inspect the fruit and estimating the distance left to go as best he can. "Half way up, eh?" Hasan murmurs to himself, then glances back at his companions.

The branches, and the twisting stairway, obscure how much further there is to go; however, it does seem a bit brighter above.

"Come on!" Topaz gestures. He heads on up, even ahead of Hasan, anxious to see what's next.

Amused, Hasan steps aside for Topaz, holding onto nearby branches to ensure his balance on the edge of the steps. Echo follows quickly. After a dozen or so steps, sunlight is once again beginning to penetrate the leaves, dappling everything with shifting splotches of light.

Topaz storms on up. "Sunlight above!"

The next platform is pentagonal, with radial walkways leading off from each face. A sixth continues upward, toward what looks like the top layer of the canopy. In the shifting, dappled light, fruit of a most extraordinary nature can be seen.

These fruits look like transparent sacs, filled with fluid. Inside the sacs are small, curled-up forms.

Topaz tries to get closer, to get a better look at these fruit. Echo instructs his familiar to get a closer look at the forms, all the while sharing the Nightingale's sight. Hasan takes several moments to realise what he's looking at, and then stops dead in his tracks, staring at them.

Most of the ones nearby are quite tiny; some further off, near the platforms which are just visible through the branches, look like they're almost man-sized. Up close, the fruits look even more curious. Their stems extend in, beyond their pliable rinds, connecting to the tiny figures... which, up close, are clearly human fetuses.

Not being familiar with unborn babies, it takes the three a moment to realize what they're seeing. It becomes clear that the fruits further off are not just man-SIZED, but also man-SHAPED.

"How odd," remarks Topaz.

"It's... more than odd, Topaz." Hasan suppresses a shudder. This just doesn't feel right at all, not to him.

"I'm suddenly... very unsettled..." Echo looks back toward the larger ones. "I hope they don't wake up anytime soon."

Topaz shrugs a bit; he's seen things nearly as bad at mom's house.

A light breeze rustles the canopy. The homunculus-fruit wobble gently as branches sway. The monkeys seem to have retreated.

Echo calls Soft Morning back to him. "I think we know what non-monkey hands arranged those stones..."

The platform on which the trio stands is not plain white, like the others. It looks to have been decorated with some kind of paint, in intricate branching patterns. Soft Morning's reconnaisance showed that the five platforms branching off from it are decorated in a similar fashion. Patterns have been painted on, and carved into, the central trunk of the tree (which is rapidly thinning, this high up), spiraling up toward the top of the canopy.

Hasan nods at Echo's comment, but says little more; this discovery has him more than a little fazed for the moment. After a time, he shakes his head as if to clear it, and frowning all the while sets off up the stairs for the top floor.

"The rest of the platforms leading from this one are decorated the same." Echo looks around, wondering if there are any fruit-men watching them right now.

Topaz nods softly, investigating the rest of the platform.

None of the fruit-people seem to be conscious of their surroundings; even the adult-sized ones seem to be asleep, curled up in fetal positions.

"I think we might want to be a bit more cautious on the way up, but we ought to at least see what's up there before we sleep for the night," says Echo. "Or before it gets too dark."

"Alright..." replies Topaz. "You really think it's dangerous?"

"If they worship the tree as the stones made it seem anyway, I'd rather they not think we're some sort of outside threat to it," Echo explains.

Hasan quickly reaches the top of the canopy; light shines all around him, except directly above. As he approaches, he sees that the object blocking the sun is another platform, bigger than the others. The stairway leads up to a notch in it, allowing him to climp up top. He emerges into deepening sunset. The tree's canopy spreads out below him to all sides, like a lumpy green carpet. The crown of the tree thrusts up through the center of the platform.

Topaz nods softly, and follows after, more cautious and contained in his curiosity. Echo pauses for a minute before looking around to realize that the others have gone, then hurries to catch up.

Columns arch up from the ten corners of the platform, meeting above to give a gazebo-like effect; a short railing runs along the perimeter. The tree crown has an intricate, helical look to it. Thin branches spiral around each other, up to about eye level. An almost overpowering aura of wood essence permeates the area; faint sparkles of green can be seen chasing themselves along the curving paths of the crown branches. The branches and twigs surround what appears to be yet another extraordinary fruit.

This one is quite small, no larger than a chicken's egg; unlike most fruit, its stem connects to its bottom, instead of its top. Also unlike most fruits, it has a glossy, gemlike sheen to its opalescent rind. It appears slightly translucent in the slanting evening light.

Hasan imagines a hush falling upon his surroundings, as everything fades into inconsequentiality before the raw power of the manse's heart. His eyes trace the geometry of each branch in turn, but always they return to the central fruit, and his eyes glow with wonder. Topaz looks on with awe.

Around the base of the tree's crown, piles of colorful stones have been arranged. There is no rotten fruit, but there are some cunningly-made wooden sculptures, most of them tree-shaped in some way. Against the backlighting, a small, dark shape can be seen inside the hearthstone-fruit.

Echo looks about, taking it all in, the child of the Western Goddess trying to adjust to the overpowering wood essence.

His skin almost crawling with all the essence of life crackling around them, Hasan takes a sudden step forward, almost an involuntary movement to get closer and examine the stone. Hasan's skin grows flushed as he draws near the stone; the hair on his neck prickles, and his breathing grows heavier, as an almost erotic wave of life energy washes over him.

Up close, the shadow inside the white, pearly fruit-gem resembles the infant homunculi seen in the fruits below.

Topaz comes up closer, amazed and awed into silence.

Before their eyes, the tiny shape inside the gem moves, turning slightly. At the sight of the homunculus within, the shudder of power passing through Hasan becomes one of startlement, and he freezes as it turns toward him.

Echo moves up to regard the stone with the other two, unable to take his eyes off the homunculus.

Topaz 's eyes go wide, as the little fruit-creature turns to regard them. He backs up a bit, behind Hasan.

The tiny shape exhibits no further movement; it does not appear aware of the three men watching it. Considering its tiny size, it is unlikely that it is even developed enough to perceive its environment. It is like an unborn child, waiting for some unknown stimulus to cause it to hatch from its hearthstone egg.

Descending

After examining the heart of the tree, and its remarkable hearthstone, the three make their way back down the stair. Hasan makes the descent in a contemplative silence, brooding over their discoveries and letting the other two take the lead. Like the rainstorms that run in his blood, however, such moods are powerful but brief, and by the time they arrive back at the spiders Hasan is more his usual self.

Topaz is only his usual self, as they head back toward the Spiders, if you consider "Scared Witless" to be considered usual. He doesn't like the Spiders, he's afraid of the Spiders, he doesn't want to deal with them. Topaz will, thus, let the others handle this.

Echo walks back down the stairs, also not wanting to deal with the spiders after the last incident. He spends the walk thinking back on riddles he's heard, trying to remember what he can of them. As they get close to the spiders Echo takes the lead.

At the bottom of the stairs, the wicker web blocks their path; the spiders have moved it back into place. The feeling, from this side, is of being inside a giant basket. The web rustles as the spiders emerge and skitter over to look at the men with inscrutable sap eyes.

Echo does not like this feeling of being inside a basket belonging to large spiders.

"Three men climbed down from the top of the tree..." says the spider on the left.

"Did they bring a riddle for my brother and me?" asks the spider on the right.

Topaz shivers a bit. The two spiders become completely still, waiting for Echo's response.

Echo bows silently and clears his throat to deliver a Western riddle. "Though it be cold, I wear no clothes, the frost and snow I never fear... I value neither shoes nor hose, and yet I wonder far and near... My diet is forever good, I drink no cider, port, nor sack... What providence doth send for food, I neither buy, nor sell, nor lack." Echo falls silent.

The spiders shift slightly in their wicker web, twig-mandibles clacking softly.

Topaz idly stops shivering a bit; that's a good riddle. He tries to figure out the answer.

"Riddles of Wood are the ones we like best," says the first spider.

"But we shall accept this pearl of the West," says the second.

"Cold in life as I am in death," recites the right-hand spider.

"Alive as you but without breath," continues the second.

"Never thirsty, though ever I drink..."

"Dressed all in mail but never a clink."

"Without wings or legs, yet I move as I wish..."

"I could be no other," chorus both spiders, "but a silvery fish."

Echo nods, acknowledging the correct answer. The spiders reorient themselves slightly on the web, moving in mirror-image.

"The pretty man's riddle was of a most pleasing sort," says the right-hand spider.

Topaz smiles a bit, and stops shaking, as the Spiders seem to be pleased. Topaz is also impressed with their answer; he's never been good at riddles, however. Hasan nods approvingly to Echo, clearly impressed.

"Much better than the ones told us in the old Court," observes the left-hand spider.

"You may pass through our web to the lower floors..."

"We shall await your next visit, and what new riddles you have in store."

The spiders skitter off to the sides, and draw their web back to allow passage.

Echo bows politely "Thank you, honored spiders." he says, then walks through the open path.

They wave their pedipalps in a friendly way as Echo passes through the wicker curtain.

Topaz passes hesistantly through. Hasan follows behind in a comparatively relaxed fashion.

The spiders close their web behind the trio, and watch them depart. "Tree-people or wood spirits, however they try..."

"...cannot tell riddles which satisfy."

"But you bring rhymes of a most pleasing flavor;"

"Return soon with more, so we may listen and savor."

The spiders vanish into their web.

Echo thanks the spiders again. He goes down to the next floor, preferring to be out of the spider's earshot. Topaz follows afterward with all due haste... as does Hasan.

Back in the Tower

"Well, that went better than expected," says Echo. "I feel safer sleeping down here anyhow. Hopefully the spiders will keep whatever might be upstairs up there."

Topaz now has images of the Wood Spiders letting the little freakish tree people down to hunt and kill them, for kicks, which he struggles valiently to get out of his mind.

"Indeed, impressive work," agrees Hasan. "I suppose our next job is to locate the Artisans... but perhaps a little rest first would be a fine thing... though if you wish, I could have a prowl about before the sun goes down completely and see what I can see."

"I say we prowl for some wine fruit, personally. My friend here can fly about the area for a bit to see if there's anyone else out there." Echo looks seriously at his familiar. "Don't get eaten."

Hasan laughs softly. "Ah, now there is wisdom. I shall quest for wine instead." With that, he heads off in the direction of the nearest wine-fruit cluster he can recall seeing.

Topaz hopes Hasan gets some FOOD too, but doesn't say anything; he's starting to get tired, after all.

Soft Morning preens indignantly at the insinuation that she would ever be so foolish as to be eaten, then flutters off, following Hasan down the stairs.

Hasan heads down to the kitchen, two floors down. If he can get past the poop-flinging monkeys, he is sure he saw some of the wine-fruit growing in the tangle of branches. In the kitchen, Hasan locates some winefruit. He also manages to grab some fruit which resemble big loaves of crusty bread, and a globular fruit which smells of sharp cheese, before the monkeys chase him out.

After dining on the fruit, using the sanitary facilities (which, like everything else, seem to be grown from the tree itself) and retrieving their blankets and other supplies from the mule they left on the first floor, the three men settle in to sleep.

The Next Morning

Resplendent Echo is awakened by Soft Morning's greeting call. The little bird sits next to his head; morning sunlight shines in through the open doorway of the room he dusted out, sparkling off the black jade inlay on the walls.

Echo sits up and smiles at the Nightingale. "Good morning. Lets go find the others, and perhaps some breakfast."

As they leave the Water-themed room on the fourth floor, Soft Morning reports, via tweets and head-bobbing, what she found overnight.

Topaz found a nice, quiet SAFE place to rest ... just in case everyone else was devoured by monkeys and/or tree-people.

Echo goes to find the others, listening to her along the way. From what the bird says, there are more ruins in the jungle. Most of them are similar to the rubble littering the clearing. She saw some creatures moving about to the west; from what she says, there were a number of gods and elementals, taking a variety of tree and flower forms. She only observed from a distance, but is not sure if she was noticed. She is sure she was not followed.

Hasan is easily found curled up in a relatively clean corner of the Earth-themed room, though it is clear he didn't bother dusting the rest before bed.

Echo thanks the young bird. Soft Morning warbles companionably.

Topaz would be primarily located via snores. "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..."

Echo shakes Topaz awake softly, trying not to do so like how he thinks a tree-person might.

After making their morning ablutions, the three gather down in the ground-floor atrium. Despite Topaz' fears, the mule is completely intact. It is placidly munching on a plant which is growing up in the space between a couple of displaced flagstones. There's no sign that anything came into the manse overnight.

Topaz is very happy to see that the Mule is still okay, and that all the things he had to leave behind are still present and accounted for. Pats the mule lightly, and looks to the others.

"Aha, I see your mule is well-trained, Topaz. It's already helping clear the room." Hasan grins.

"Well...of course." Topaz puffs up a bit. He had, of course, nothing to do with training the mule.

Echo smiles. "Well, speaking of fixing the place up, we should probably get to work."

"Ah, that we should. I take it Soft Morning knows the way?" asks Hasan. "To finding the artisans, that is."

"...the jungle? Well, alright. You should do alright with that. I'll stay here and finish translating the writings in the ruins, and that book." Topaz smiles lightly. He starts unpacking from the mule.

"She saw something moving to the west, but is not sure what it was. And there were more ruins like the ones around here." Echo smiles. "Hold off the tree-people while we're gone."

Hasan nods quickly to Topaz. "Indeed. We'll see you later."

Into the Jungle

Leaving the clearing is much the same as entering it, but in reverse. The two God-bloods are swiftly assailed by all manner of bloodthirsty biting insects, their progress impeded by undergrowth which seems specifically adapted to offer the greatest possible obstruction to travellers.

Fortunately, Hasan and Echo's powers keep the worst of the flies at bay, and they make slow but steady progress through the vines and plants. Soft Morning flits from branch to branch, whistling at the duo to guide their way.

Echo walks alongside Hasan, hacking at the undergrowth. Hasan ushers a small horde of tiny rainstorm homunculi ahead of him, knocking aside vines and harassing insects as they go; he follows behind with machete and stick clearing what they cannot.

After at least three hours of chopping down vines and other impediments, the underbrush begins to thin out. Some very large trees begin to come into view, their trunks wrapped in lianas. Colorful flowers cling to their branches, and the vines' coils.

Something large moves in the brush off to one side. A bear-sized... lump... trundles into view. It appears to be a large, amorphous mound of moss. It moves with a curious rolling gait, extending stubby feet and retracting them in a constant rhythm. The strange creature takes no notice of the two men, moving unconcernedly past them, its large bulk pushing the underbrush out of its way.

Despite its lack of interest in them, Hasan bows to it respectfully; his action is echoed at once by the tiny figures surrounding him in strangely comical fashion. Echo begins to address the elemental in Old Realm as it shambles past, but trails off as it keeps going.

Soft laughter sounds from above. Echo looks up quickly in the direction of the laughter.

"Courtesy is wasted on moss bears," a lilting, feminine voice informs him in Forest-Tongue.

Echo whispers to Hasan "What'd it say?"

Echo sees that the speaker is a petite, dark-complexioned woman. She is unclothed, and bright flowers adorn her long, dark green hair -- from which she appears to be dangling.

Hasan shrugs reflexively as he looks up, his eyes seeking the speaker even as he murmurs to Echo "We're wasting courtesy on bears."

The woman's hair is very long, and reaches up to some high branches, which it is wrapped around. From telltale aspects of her appearance, Echo is sure that she is some kind of wood spirit. Hasan also has the sense that her body is not born of any material creature, but formed of woven Essence.

Echo bows to the god and greets her in Old Realm.

The spirit moves like a marionette, using her prehensile hair to tilt her dangling body in a bow. She lowers herself down until her feet are only about a yard above the ground.

"To what does the Cloud Flower Court owe your presence, good sirs?" Her tone is warmer, and she speaks in Old Ream; Echo's polite greeting has shown her that the two men are not complete barbarians!

Hasan bows deeper to this new spirit, as do his homunculi; after a respectful amount of time bowed, he steps to one side as if to indicate Echo is the one who speaks with the most authority. "Honored god, we come form the ruins to the east seeking a tribe of artisans, though we know not if we go in the right direction."

The small woman smiles brightly. "Ah, so you have come from the Cornucopia Tree!"

"Most of our court is trees, or the flowers and vines which live upon them, but we also number artisans among us." She looks inquisitively at Echo. "Why do you seek us? Were you sent by the two brothers?"

"Yes, honored lady of the wood, that is where we are coming from." Echo says politey "We have come to restore the manse for a prince of the earth and we are seeking help. We have met the spider brothers that live in the manse, and we are not here on their behalf."

Behind her, and to the sides, more curious gods come into view; snakelike vine-gods loop down from tree branches, and various types of flower-gods perch or dangle, displaying brightly-colored petals. None of them touch the ground.

She raises green eyebrows. "A prince of the earth? Then you were not sent by the spiders at all, but rather by the Black Orchid. Has he decided to press his claim to the tree, after all?"

As he stands politely to one side, Hasan regards the new arrivals with interest, trying to gauge the court's overall character... though the mention of Black Orchid startles him somewhat.

Both men get the feeling that the spirits are curious, but not hostile to guests. It is almost as if they are expectant of something, like they have been waiting for visitors for some reason. The mention of the men's origin has sent a noticeable ripple of interest through the onlookers.

Echo blinks at the mention of Black Orchid as well, knowing the story since Hasan told him. "No honored lady, we represent another prince. We've come with orders from Yu-Shan to restore it for him before his arrival."

She looks slightly surprised by this, but does not press the issue, waving a delicate hand dismissively. Her nails are bright pink, like the flowers in her hair.

"Whoever your master, it matters little to us." She pauses momentarily, seeming to listen to something the two God-Bloods cannot hear. "We are of course willing to offer what help we can for this undertaking," she says. "Though I fear that most of our court cannot approach the manse. To spirits like us, who spend all their days aloft, the clearing forms a formidable barrier. If it did not, we would have surely retrieved our errant brethren long since."

She pauses again, listening. "Our artisans would be willing to help you, and we could send moss bears and others to do more menial work, but we must ask a favor in return."

Hasan expected nothing less.

She goes on without waiting for a response. "The two spiders who live in the tower are the rightful subjects of Great King Atopa, the Grandfather Tree who rules us. They fled the court some years ago." She waves her hand again, making a face. "They claimed some foolishness about wanting to hear better riddles."

She returns her bright eyes to the half-mortals. "We will give you the assistance you seek, if you bring the two brothers back into our fold. But," she adds firmly, "you must not let them know that we asked you this. It would not do for a king to be seen as begging for his subjects' return. That would be a great shame for the entire court." She grimaces, a not altogether unappealing expression considering her pretty face. "Those two would never let anyone hear the end of it."

Hasan nods sagely, the very picture of understanding, though he looks to Echo for verbal confirmation.

Echo bows "I understand perfectly, honored lady."

She smiles brightly at Echo. "Wonderful!" 

"I will return to you when I have convinced them to return." Echo bows again.

She gives her marionette bow again. "We shall await your return, good sirs."

The arboreal spirits ascend back into the trees; only a moss bear remains, whuffling at Hasan's coattails.

"By your leave, lady" Echo turns to Hasan "I guess we go back to the manse for now to try to evict some spiders."

"Ah, indeed..." Hasan glances at the moss bear, wondering quite what it thinks it's whuffling at him for. "I'm sure it'll be no trouble at all."

ToTreeOfBounties/ThisOldManse.