I stopped at the very edge of the forest and slowly extended a hand towards the nearest tree. Its skin was strange—chunky, jagged, and craggy. I had never been close enough to one to see it in detail, so I was unprepared for such a texture. Fruit trees were confined within carefully secured orchards, and the few varieties of small, ornamental flowering trees—little more than bushes, really—that were allowed inside the Clearings all had skin that was more or less smooth with only an occasional bump in it.

The twinkling night was cast in the glow of a soft beaming moon. The resting trees were shaded by a dark gloom. A hill stood under the sky which was spread with silver specks in a sea of dark blue. On a dirt path a fire light flickered. The path was carved upon the slope of the grass-covered hill. The fire beamed upon the path, lighting it brightly. Pattering feet scurried up the slope. Children ran; their laughter was constant. An elf sat behind the flames, a slight smile curved upon his shadowed lips.