Dim stops

“Dim, we don’t know if they are friendly!”

Dim kept running and yelling, long enough for Theo to think he didn't hear him at all. But just as he was about to say something else, Dim stopped, so abruptly Theo almost ran into him. "Look!" Dim said in wonder. He pointed through the trees, into the distance. But he wasn't pointing at something on the forest floor.

Still mostly obscured by the foliage, it was nonetheless immediately clear what Dim was talking about. There were structures among the treetops. Bridges and stairs and even entire houses, suspended high off the ground amongst the many thick tree trunks and broad branches. Now that Dim had stopped yelling and they both stood still, distant voices could be heard. Childlike voices.

"Oh, and look, Sneaky!" Dim said. He pointed vaguely at the floor ahead of them, and for a moment it was hard to tell what he was talking about. But then Theo saw. Tiny flecks of green light drifted over the ground, floating as if on a lake. They seemed to move slowly in the direction of the treetop village ahead. "Green magic here!" Dim nodded. "Not dwarves. No dwarf live in tree. No dwarf do green magic." He looked at Theo. "Maybe still have food though?"