Charles & Edgarory A Village in the Mist

It was late in the eve as I entered the village, Edgarory had informed me that we were to dine before an elder was to visit before we retired for the evening. Behind us the sun was setting a deep shade of red as we stepped out from underneath the archway a most enchanting sight before me held my eyes, I was transfixed by what I saw as I stood the Elves moved past me, back to their various tasks before dinner.

The village was nestled in the middle of a Manzanita grove and even at first appearance was much larger than I ever guessed. The labyrinth of twisted branches in the manzanita canopy which was no more than twenty or so feet above our heads kept the village dry, save for where the leaves and branches channeled water down in natural culverts to the gardens below. Much like the forest which surrounded the marsh the canopy kept the village in a constant state of twilight and shadow, the sun only creeping through as tiny shafts of light which seemed to dissolve into darkness before they touched the soil.

Before me the path of red stone went out until it split to encompass the grove in a large rectangle. About the trunk of each of the twelve trees that grew just off set from being side by side, were gardens of vegetables akin to the ones I ate in the past, those being carrots, turnips, peas, tomatoes, cucumber and so on. Whilst in other gardens there were the purple and blue flowers which grew in vines which wrapped themselves about the tree. Still there was a third type of garden which held various berry bushes, from a golden type of raspberry to gigantic strawberries.

The path on either side of the lower terrace grove, for I could see where the pathway lead up to another tier, was a black stone wall about knee high, which also encompassed the gardens around the tree trunks. The wall housed in all the yards of the individual dwellings, each one had a beautiful wood carved archway over the entrance to their personal gardens about their homes. None of the houses looked similar, some were made of the same red stone as the pathway, the same dark wood used on the archways comprised the doors, window frames and roofs of those types of homes, most of which where a single story, small and square while others were two stories tall and crafted from foundation to roof of fallen logs. Others were completely open, built in the fashion of the archway, thin sliding sheets of wood or possibly it was paper, sealed the house off when it was time for silence for sleep.

Edgarory lead me onward down the path, we went right where it split as it made its way around the rectangle of homes and gardens underneath the Manzanita canopy. At the far end of the terrace we made our way up a very large set of red stone stairs, above which was a very intricate and beautiful archway of carved dark wood, to the second tier terrace. In the middle of the staircase I stopped for something far off to my left caught my eye, there upon another tier, a lower terrace, was a blacksmith's shop. As I regarded the black stone building with wooden roof, a fire raging just inside the door in a hearth below the bellows, I heard a hammer beating upon an anvil. Beyond that I saw an old lumber mill which looked to be now used as a barn, that seemed to be where most of the Elves had gone off to as I stopped to take in the villages beauty. Edgarory had told me that there were indeed several farms down on the lower terrace to the East, and the lower terrace in the West were the battlements and a second smithery, to the south was the great hall, which was revered much like a temple, save there was nothing to be worshipped. There everything looked much the same, though this was no rectangle but a very large circle, at the centre of which was a very beautiful well. Above the well two of the same intricate archways had been linked together, under this hung a large pale from a rope which was used only during the dry seasons, which were now getting more rare as the marshes expanded into the desert beyond.

We came to the first house on our left in the circle and went under the archway, through the garden and up to the sliding door. 'This is the house of my kin, Jenovian's,' said Edgarory very softly as if attempting not to heard by her before he had a chance to knock, 'she will have us for dinner and a short period after for cleaning ourselves.' It was at this point that I noticed that Freya was not upon his shoulder...

In all hopes of returning,
Charles with Edgarory