At first, Mericlou thought that Aldrec was taking her to the south, perhaps on a two hour-long trip to Nibra or a five hour transit to faraway Sakar. But the transcon ride turned out to be a simple thirty-minute journey northward to the town of Skainhart in Daina.

The transcon passed through the mountains that bordered Lusea's environs, and after several minutes of utterly black darkness, punctuated by tunnel lights, full daylight returned, albeit dimmer and with a slight mist. The dense foliage of the Orobia basin's canopy spread like a misty, green carpet beyond the mountains that housed the ancient elven town. The sight of this panorama captivated Mericlou so that it took a bit of effort on Aldrec's part to pry her away from the balcony at the transcon station.

"My surprise is much better than even this," he assured her, and Mericlou finally yielded to his coaxing. "You're going to love it, guaranteed!"

Skainhart was diminishingly smaller than Lusea: a rustic hamlet that almost seemed to grow from a rift between two mountains high above the jungles from which the Selisna flowed. Though populated solely by elves, the style of its buildings was anything but elvish: no flowing marble, no abundant trees or hanging vines, no magically created pastel hues. In fact, all that was elvish about the town were its inhabitants, and the language of the signs. Though not of elven make, the ambient architecture was not human either, as human buildings had much larger windows, and even the more out-of-the-way towns kept up with the latest trends in design. And even the smallest human towns had electrical lights and signs, unlike those here, which floated above boards and lamps: a sure sign of magic.

Aldrec led Mericlou from the transcon station, down the main avenue, and to a three-story building at the street's lonely dead end, squeezed between the seam where the two mountain ranges seemed to join together.

"Watch your head," Aldrec warned, as he led the curious and fascinated android through the building's low doorway, and into its black interior. Before Mericlou could comment on the absence of light, Aldrec spoke a single word, softly yet pronouncedly.

"Ereimul."

As if his word took form, a glowing, gaseous silver haze appeared. Swirling in the air before, him, it spun, shrank, and then coalesced into shining marble-sized pellet of light. It then proceeded to grow in size, expanding into a brilliant silver-white sphere that floated to the center of the room, increasing the intensity of its glow in its ascent until the entire building was brightly lit with a soft, but steady light.




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