The Garden of Peace

"I'll heed your advice on that, Horo," she said. She owned many dresses without sleeves, so that wouldn't be a problem. "But I should think you could hide more things up under that odd hat of yours. In any case, I shan't keep you waiting, and in the dark you should be able see me coming from some distance." Her faery glow really betrayed her at night. She frowned a little at some private joke he seemed to take amusement in, and then smiling again and waving goodbye, she picked up her basket full of purchases, pushed out the door, and set out on her way home.

She walked up several city streets, passing more ordinary shops bustling with customers, before turning down an empty alley that brought her behind the three story stone and mortar building in which she lived. Or rather on. Ethereal, translucent wings suddenly materialized from her back that resembled those of an insect. They stretched themselves, and then began to flutter rapidly until her feet lifted from the ground.

When she reached the rooftop, an immense feeling of peace and safety settled over her as she touched down in comfortably familiar surroundings that consisted of a variety of trees and plants belonging to the deep forests of Verden where she grew up. Amid the trees were beautifully blooming flowerbeds of different tinted hues; small orchards bearing wild apples, pears, cherries, plums and apricots; various thick shrubbery, some laden with berries. The grounds were intersected by foot paths and leafy, shaded glades. Here and there were bubbling streams and clear pools to bathe in, and wooden gazebos and little houses to go inside; the structures looked as though they might have magically grown out of the verdant surroundings, which indeed they had.

A few Entlings that ranged from one to three and a half feet tall, could be glimpsed slowly moving about on the ground and through the foliage, seeking the best places to sun themselves. She drew a deep breath of air warm and pungent with the scent of ripe fruit and flowers and pine sap and rich soil. Her wings vanishing from existence, she walked down one of the meandering paths until she found a perfect spot to plant the blue rose bulbs. She then set to leisurely working on a rock garden she was building on the edge of the spacious roof overlooking the street below.

A powerful glamour spell hid the whole of the green oasis from public view, lest people be bothered by the strange sight of the trees growing out of the building's uppermost levels and make a complaint.