It was our second day of walking since the cat-like predators had attacked us and we had seen many cavern chambers on that path we found. Sarita would often point to plants she saw and describe them as crop. We would then either pluck them or dig their roots and tubers from the ground in preparation of the next dinner. She also once pointed to one of those vines that turned to double-sided trees 

Over the time we had been travelling we did not manage to coax very much out of Sarita. She told us her age though and claimed to be over 72, telling us to not treat her like a child. When we asked her whether she meant 72 years she merely remarked that she did not know what those were. Without celestial bodies to observe, a year would make little sense, but she still refused to tell us very much more.  

Anne entrusted to me during one rest that she believed the girl to be worried about much other things than simply having to go back to ma and pa, while Brad was of the conviction that she was merely being a bratty child trying to avoid consequences. The Professor meanwhile had little opinion on the matter and merely hoped to find scholars among Sarita’s people so he could find out more about this odd world. I had to admit, this was also my concern most of the time. 

It was then on that day that the girl again came to a halt without warning, yet this time not in tension and fear, but in defeat. It was before a bent in a tunnel roughly fifty feet wide. When we asked her what was wrong, she turned around and again pleaded with us to let her go free. We refused, then she turned back forward and declared. “We have arrived.” 

We cleared the bent and saw a palisade with a gate blocking the entire width of the tunnel, just low enough to let the glowing mist pass overhead unimpeded. Left and right of the gate, guard towers stood, each manned. The guards were crolachan too, obvious from afar, and similar to Sarita, they had a darker coat and a narrower frame than the stout and broad crolachans I knew from the surface. They at first barked some orders in their tongue, before seeing Sarita, upon which they instantly took an attentive pose and yelled orders to their back. 

Anne took a knife and cut Sarita loose from her harness. The gate opened and behind it, we saw a chamber around sixty feet high at any place, mostly even ground and even ceiling. Within this hall we saw fields and crolachans working on them. We recognized a few bushes and herbs we had foraged, among them the prickly bulb, but also plants he hadn’t seen before. On some spaces, hog-like animals grazed under the watchful eye of a herder. 

A horn was blown by one of the guard towers and repeated by further guard towers in the distance. It dawned on me that Sarita might not be simply a runaway girl. 

The guards saluted Sarita, who looked tired and defeated, and awaited some sort of command. She gave one and then introduced us with our names. She told some things of us, of which I could only make out words such as “surface” and “mages”. 

Words were shouted and things arranged and quickly, two guards came to our sides. They greeted us with few, simple words. Sarita told us that all of us would now be taken to her father, the chieftain. 

We crossed through the large chamber in company of the two guards, not without the Professor making many remarks about its geology. “Look at the ceiling. So even and regular, this must be a layer of soft rock washed clean by water. Or maybe that mist! Oh, these formations are far more diverse than the limestone and magma caves I had been in so far.”  

The entire time, Sarita’s mood seemed to darken until even I had to admit, Anne’s sense for people had to be right. This was about more than simply a girl coming of age and running away. 

We reached another gate and it too was opened upon command. We entered and saw a much lower chamber, around fifteen feet high and smaller on both sides. It seemed to be a plantation of that vine we saw in the wild. Here, the vines hung from the ceiling in row upon row leading away from the central pathway. Some vines had touched the ground and turned to wood. Their stems were covered in pink flowers and red berries, which workers selectively picked. Other rows of the vine were still green and had not touched the ground yet. These vines were tended to by workers clipping off any leaves, not unlike what gardeners did to rose bushes to further the growth of blossoms. Sarita had referred to this vine as Vrata and the people here seemed to attribute great prosperity to it. 

We passed through these plantation chambers until we came into a chamber of similar size to the first one, yet it was not flat; in its middle ran a hill ridge from right to left, with the ceiling above it following the contour of the land below. On the hill ridge itself rose a town of wood several stories high. Almost all the buildings were propped up on or attached to strong tree stems connecting ceiling and floor, seemingly made from hundreds of vines turned to wood coiling around each other. In the very top of the cavity on the ceiling, a single large building throned above all others, where it could most likely see the entire chamber. As of right now, the glowing mist had gathered in this cavity, concentrating the light flooding this chamber and being of course, closest to the uppermost building. 

Sarita introduced the town to us as Uvraitam, calling it a rather small town. When we asked her how many people lived there, she told us a number that I would now understand as around three hundred, more likely less. 

The lowest of the buildings was suspended just a floor or two above the ground and it was where we were heading. It had an access ramp that looked like it could support wagons or other large loads and the guards referred to it as a 'depot'. I put forth the theory that it was a place of trade, especially with peoples other than crolachan. The Professor decided against bringing Chrysita inside, in fear of putting too much strain on the construction without knowing what it was built to withstand. 

The building had a large central hall, longer than wide and bearing a podium across one of the short ends, all together probably capable of housing over two hundred people if completely cleared, but right now contained what seemed like wares prepared for trade; sealed clay pots and amphorae, spars and boards of a bright wood, heaps of coiled rope, bolts of a coarse cloth, and many things more, most of it out together into one neat pile on the podium.  

We were seated on a row of cushioned chairs, obviously made to bear beings even taller than us, two guards remained at our side, while two others walked up the stairs to the podium and out a door on the far end of the building. 

A moment of silence entered. 

The Professor was the first to break it. “This village seems to be expecting the arrival of a trader soon.” 

Nobody answered anything to that. 

“And Sarita seems to be a highly respected member of their society.” 

Brad nodded. “And I hope they repay us handsomely. It seems they could outfit us at least with a new tent and ropes.” He looked around the room for objects of potential use to us. 

A guard came in carrying a large natural crystal of an opaque grey. It was little over a foot in diameter and roughly three feet long. I carefully watched the guard as he put the crystal into some sort of metal receptacle made from skilfully woven bars, where it stood upright. The guard then took a metal file of some sort and started rasping away the upper layers of the smooth, natural crystal. The freshly exposed rock underneath was not grey but rather glowed in that grey light that stirred in me remembrances of a moonlit night. I quickly retrieved Sarita’s glowing pendant from my pack. It had long since ceased any glow and become inert and grey. As I then looked closer, I saw that where the elongated stone had been fitted into the filigree attached to the chain, it was much thicker and had flat, smooth sides proving it to be indeed the same kind of crystal. Apparently, the glow would not subsist and so the upper layers of the rock would have to be continuously filed down to expose still untouched layers and cause them to glow. I also took a look at the knife we had taken from Sarita and saw that its backside had indeed a file-like serration to it. 

My deductions came to an end when the door at the end of the podium flew open and a small but loud Crolachan man entered, wearing a robe adorned with silver and gold as well as an elaborate head dress of strips of colourful cloth interwoven. He was flanked by a woman in a beautiful flowing dress similarly made and adorned, as well as another man of more humble clothing. 

The first man let out a call of joy and threw his arms up. Sarita stood up and walked over to them to be hugged, somewhat reluctantly. When all three had welcomed the girl and confirmed her sound health, the man turned to us and spoke what was probably the closest thing to pure Pliranti we had heard in a long time. With very few words from another tongue and accurate pronunciation, he greeted us. 

He thanked us for the return of the princess, as he called Sarita. He introduced himself as Chief Gobindu Avantyet. Then he made a bow and introduced the other two, his wife Rajina – who did indeed have a certain resemblance to Sarita – as well as his brother Mohatul. He also spoke of soft beds, good food and a long overdue festivity in celebration of the princess's departure, to which we were invited as honoured guests. 

We were all somewhat confused by the term departure and Professor Scutolith asked what that meant, since she had actually returned. Chief Avantyet laughed and told us that soon, Sarita would leave for another town, where she was to wed the chief as a sign of friendship between the two towns. 

I now realized – and noticed in my companions that they did too – what exactly it was that Sarita ran away from: an arranged marriage. 

We were still a bit struck when Professor Scutolith accepted. Chief Avantyet rejoiced. He turned to his family and gave some quick orders, then he, Rajina and Sarita left the room again, declaring their joy to see us at the festivities. Mohatul remained in the room with us. 

Mohatul introduced himself as our steward, and beckoned us to follow him, which we obliged to do. Together with two guards and with few words, he lead us out the door at the far end. 

Being closer to the actual town now I realized the logic and method behind its construction, a rather ingenious way by the crolachans of utilizing their environment.  

The basic architecture of the town relied on many Vrata vines that grew from the ceiling down towards the ground. These were coiled together in bundles, some as thick as a person or more and forming solid, straight stems serving as the main columns. Into these main columns, thick beams and arcs of wood were inserted that served as the building ground for the actual houses. These houses were made of boards of a much darker wood and their roofs often seemed to be furnished with pots of plants, fences and opportunities to lounge, like rooftop gardens of sorts. To further stabilise and connect these houses, shoots from the wooden vines were then braided into ladders, auxiliary pillars, railings and the basis for the very walkways we were currently using. It was all intricate and intriguing. For a people as adept at climbing as crolachans, living like this offered a unique protection from outside harms. 

The lower levels of this multi-layered town seemed rather roomy for the small Crolachans, most of which were below five feet tall. Only when I saw that the lower area we were currently wandering also had many workshops and places of business did I realize that it most likely served as some sort of trading district, where other, taller races could walk and inspect the wares. 

We were brought to what seemed to be a boarding house and into a sleeping room for four. Mohatul told us to store our luggage here and then follow him further. He led us into a long room where women were just done preparing four tubs of warm water for us. 

With a few words we could not understand to the women, Mohatul left the room. The women attended us and before we were allowed to enter the tubs of water, brushed our skin and hair thoroughly, which was normally necessary only for other Crolachans, to remove the frowst and loose hair from the body. Still, they did their duty and Brad, who had the luck of being attended to by the most beautiful of the four women, hummed and sighed in relief and relaxation at this first communal hygiene since we left for Mount Proxilus. 

I tried not to envy lucky Brad while I had my back soaped and brushed by a woman not of ugly exterior, but certainly the age of my own mother. Nonetheless, I relaxed, leaned back and enjoyed the first bath I had in a long time. Things had finally taken a turn for the better and I would not question them.