Chapter 7
Part 2
Soon the locations and exterior appearances of one hundred and seventy-three buildings had been
decided. The homes were scattered throughout the site, with a greater concentration around the
where it emerged from the surrounding rock slope north-west of the vige center, a marina of boat
sheds was nned next to the docks, and Nek and Reen proposed a pub at the end of a short dead-
end canyon near the docks, where the surrounding rock walls would insure that the vige was never
disturbed by anyte-night revelry there. Finally, following Nine Valleys tradition, an area was set aside
beside the beach near the docks for an open market, and two small restaurants were nned in a
great tree near there; at over nine meters thick it was the stoutest on the ind. Sana’s Kitchen would
be built in the base and specialize in quick and hearty human fare, and Elven Delights would provide
fine dining in the tradition of The People of Life, in a five story facility built in the trunk and on the
branches between eighteen and thirty-four meters from the ground.
They spent a few minutes gazing with satisfaction at thepleted model, then Mark spoke again.
“All right, we might as well go there now. It’s early morning at Hiliani right now, seeing as how it’s
almost directly on the other side of the world from here, so it’s a good time to n interior rooms and
get started on building. We’ll be bringing food and drink, so don’t worry about that. Talia and I will take
care of everyone’s Translocation.
“Is everyone ready? Yes? Okay, here we go!”
It took Mark and Talia a moment to gather the power and prepare for such a mighty Translocation, then
there was a sh and a brief moment of cold, and all five hundred and two of them appeared on the
beach beside the settlement site at Hiliani.
It was a bit cooler here, which took a moment to get used to, but the light was about the same; the sun
was rising at Hiliani just as it was setting at Hilia.
“This is so beautiful, my love!” Talia enthused as she slowly turned around, enjoying the entire
panorama, as did most of the rest.
“It is, isn’t it?” Mark chuckled as he caressed her between her shoulder des.
“That was a remarkable Translocation!” Theraminmented as he realized what they’d done. “That
was the most I’ve seen moved in a single casting, and the distance could not have been farther!”
“Thanks.” Talia nodded with a smile. “It took both of us to do it, but we’ll be ready for work in a couple of
minutes.”
“Excellent.” Theramin nodded in return as he re-cast the model Illusion on the beach beside them. “All
right, I’m assigning at least one person who can cast a good Illusion to every nned building. The
building’s proprietors will work with them to finalize their interior designs, while we of the construction
teams will start on the gathering hall. By the time we’re done with that, everyone on the construction
teams should be steady with the spells, and we can divide into ten building teams to hurry the work
along.”
With that he set out for the site of the hall, his Illusion moving along the ground beside him. The
dragons and many of the elves took to the air while the unicorns ran ahead, and everyone else strolled
along in a big loose group.
They gathered around the circle of fourteen great trees that would be the gathering hall.
“All right,” Theramin called, “Quewanak haspiled a list of those of you who are qualified to cast this
spell, and he will now call you within these trees where we will form a circle.”
Mark and Talia ‘heard’ Quewanak psionicly call their names, and stepped forward with the rest. Only
nine humans including Mark were called, but all the elves except twelve stepped up. The unicorns and
dragons took part except Karzog, the infant ck dragon that Povon and Kragorram had adopted. And
interestingly, Quewanak.
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“You will not be casting with us, Eldest?” Talia asked as she went past him.
“I think not. You are well capable of doing it without me, so I will observe.” he responded, and psionicly
added; “Which is the way of the gods, after all.”
“Mark, would you cast the Link?” Yazadril asked when the casters stood in a great circle just inside the
ring of trees. “And would the rest of you either hold hands, or stand close enough together to touch the
person on each side? Thank you.”
There was a bit of shuffling and the circle closed up a bit, as Mark cast the Link and drew them all into
it.
“Now then, Yazadril has the design of the building, while I will direct the horticultural aspects of the
spell.” Theramin psionicly instructed. “We will use a song to co-ordinate and unify our efforts in time
and frequency. Mark, could you make sure everyone has everything?”
Mark took the song, the spell, and the design, made sure that he was certain of them, and ced them
in the minds of those who weren’t capable of grasping it themselves so quickly. That took almost three
minutes.
“Source above, but it is wondrous how you can do that!” Theramin remarked with a smile and a metal
chuckle, and most in the Link added their heartfelt agreement to the sentiment.
Povon and Kragorram were well used to casting with Mark and Talia, as were Sran and Equemev,
who had to ‘trante’ the elven wizardry spell into the nguage’ of unicorn sorcerers for their eight
They all followed Theramin as his awareness epassed the fourteen huge fir trees they would be
working on, and examined them in fine detail down to each individual fiber of root, wood, bark, or leaf.
Some in the circle were incapable of holding such a huge mass of information in mind all at once, and
were told by Yazadril through the Link; “You’ll have to work as assistants for now, I’m afraid.”
Theramin then superimposed his mental pictures of the trees as they were over Yazadril’s finished
design, considered the changes they wished to make, and nned the flow of material from it’s present
shape to it’s finished form.
It was actually far more difficult to change the shape of the existing trees than it was to grow new
material in a desired shape, so the existing trees would be modified first to form the rooms, windows,
and doorways in the trunks. After that the walls and the roof of the structure that would connect the
trees would be grown.
Having finalized his procedure, Theramin mentally rehearsed it again as the rest followed his thoughts,
then he asked Yazadril; “Is everyone ready?”
Yazadril checked. “They are.” he reported.
“Then we begin.” Theramin stated with satisfaction. “Four, three, two, one.”
They all began to sing as Theramin and Yazadril cast the spell, while the rest observed and supplied
power.
Mark had never cast in this traditional elven way before, and it was wondrous to feel how the notes of
the wordless song resonated perfectly with the frequencies of the energy of the spell, though the notes
of the song were many octaves lower in frequency.
Apanied by the song, there began a long series of deep and muffled cracking and snapping
sounds from deep within the wood of the trees. That diminished as the openings were established and
began to erge. There was so much power avable to the spell that it only took just over four
minutes before the rooms in the trees were fully formed. As transparent nt matter began to grow
over the windows from the bottom sills upward, and the doors separated themselves from their frames
with more loud cracking sounds, the new walls began to grow between the trunks. These were formed
as the living pce had been; sprouts appeared in neat straight lines that grew into saplings in only
moments, then each young tree grew together with the ones beside it, and they all joined their wood
with the trunks of the existing trees at each end of the wall. The leafy branches at the top arched over
toward the center of the clearing until they joined in a great domed roof with neat concentric rings of
leaves from the center to the rim, only interrupted by six huge round skylights. Finally the many big
windows and three huge pairs of doors formed in the new walls, the three entranceways spaced evenly
around the perimeter.