~ SASHA ~

The forest stopped abruptly directly behind her. Zev kept walking, but Sasha stopped for a moment to take it in.

The City was… beautiful.

Looming stone buildings, mostly single-story, but far taller than any single-story in the human world. Many were open to the air, pillars and walls holding heavy, arched ceilings and all of it, even the doorways, carved in patterns of leaves and branches. And all... growing. Sasha blinked to make sure her eyes didn't deceive her. But no…

Every surface—especially the rooves and window frames—were gray and brown weathered stone, but creeping with real vines, mosses, and small plants that covered so much of the thick stone that fooled the eye so the entire structure began to blend with the forest behind.

Structures, she corrected herself. Yet, it didn't feel that way. The stone walls were so broad and thick, the towering ceilings so majestic, each room and structure blending into the next through natural gaps that allowed sunlight and air… it was impossible to tell where one building ended and another began—or whether it had merely opened itself to the forest there, for a moment.

"Do you like it?" Zev's voice was oddly vulnerable. He'd stopped ten feet from the edge of the forest and looked back at her, waiting for her verdict.

"Zev, this is… incredible."

She walked forward to join him, turning a complete circle slowly to find buildings spreading at every side—two with massive trees growing atop them, the root structures so huge and ancient, they had grown over the sides of the building to become like pillars, each a trunk all its own, over a foot thick and blending seamlessly into the dirt like streams of water into a lake.

Then Sasha turned again and her jaw dropped further.

In the gap between two buildings she could see further light and air as the earth fell away on their other side into what, at first look appeared to be a huge bowl carved out of the earth. But when Zev saw her catch sight of it, he smiled and led her forward.

The buildings were even larger close up and as they passed between the two she could see that the roofs of the single-story structures were easily twenty feet tall, if not more. But before she could examine how these huge buildings had been created with such intricacy and beauty, despite their huge size, they passed through the two and to the edge of the bowl.

The stone walkway they'd been following spilled over the edge into a rolling, circular area that was, indeed, bowl shaped. But the smooth ramps down its sides were only to navigate it. The bowl was an amphitheater, each level ten feet deep, at least, the lip rounded and falling into the next—like a waterfall of earth and grass, bubbling over the lay of the land.

All the way around the top of the bowl more of those massive trees grew, shielding the sight of further buildings, spreading through the forest.

She'd thought they'd done a good job of camouflaging the village, making it look like a piece of the landscape. But she could see that had been a poor cousin to the job done here. This city had been built with love—not only for the inhabitants, but for the nature surrounding it—by master hands. And here it stood, who knew how many centuries later, even more magnificent than the day it was built.

Sasha covered her mouth, strangely moved by the arresting beauty of this obviously ancient place.

She blinked and blinked.

It seemed unreal.

"This is the square," Zev said wryly, given the shape of the space. "It's where we used to meet in the evenings and… entertain each other."

"Zev, this is breathtaking. It's so huge!"

"It was originally built by Sasquatch, for Sasquatch," he said softly. "They're all gone now, except for Yhet. But… they were here."

"For a really long time, I guess?" Sasha said, swallowing hard. She felt very small here—not just in stature, but in the span of life. This place had so obviously seen the world turn so many times… perhaps much longer than anywhere in her world.

"Yes. There are places that need repairs, and buildings we haven't used because we aren't certain how much longer they'll stand. But most of this place is exactly as you see it here.

There was a strange beauty even to the places where the stone was bare. Huge hands had obviously carved and molded it with the intention of creating the very effect she'd noticed the moment she arrived—as if it had grown there, rather than being built.

Sasha nodded to herself. That was it, the reason she found it so appealing. The carvers and stonemasons had clearly understood how the world grew, and fashioned their work after the trees, water, and earth around them.

It was stunning. And humbling.

She turned to Zev. "Why would they have left this place?" she asked bluntly. "I mean, even forgetting how lovely it is… there's so much more to it than the village. Surely it must keep the Chimera safer and dryer and… just better?"

Zev sucked in a deep breath and looked around, his eyes pinched and distant. "That's exactly what I asked them. No one seems to have a good answer. Xar called for it. There was a need for access to the humans. And a temporary move became… home."

Then he turned back to her. "This is why I wanted to bring you here, so you could see why I think we should come back. You're right that there's more here. More we can use, and more safety. But even aside from that, the humans are far more reluctant to come here because of how long they have to travel from the gateway. It will give us more time. More warning when they do show up. And more… I don't even know how to say it. But the village feels…"

"Belitttling," Sasha ended for him.

"Yes!" he looked at her surprised.

"I noticed it when the humans came and we were watching from the foxhole," she said, walking to his side. "It felt like they were so much more…. capable. As if the Chimera were more…"

"Savage," he said darkly.

"Yes. As if you all were simpler than you actually are.. I don't know how to explain it, but I could feel it."