He couldn't help himself. In those precious few moments that Verissa let him get away with it he hugged her close, tucking his chin a little so that he could rest his cheek against the top of her head, his nose full of that mixed herb scent that seemed to be a permanent part of her. Though after her work in the open prairie there was a lingering fragrance of freshly-cut plants as well.  

Before they ventured down into the valley, Asher un-harnessed Phantom from the wagon and braced it with some stones, letting the gray steed wander where she wanted. With that done and the wagon still in sight, he offered Verissa his hand with a soft smile and shook some of the petals from his hair. "Let's go."

It didn't take long to cross from the sunlit meadow into the dappled shade of the vast cherry tree. The soft breeze created a constant rush of noise and a rain of petals, as well as the creak and groan of gray-brown limbs that could have easily supported the weight of a dragon. Somewhat louder than that, however, was the languid humming of more honeybees than they could have ever counted. 

"Is it strange that the sound made by the world's busiest animal makes me want to nap?" Asher mused thoughtfully as they walked along. And huge honeybees weren't the only oversized critter sheltered by the colossus. The occasional fuzzy black bumblebee drifted along also, nearly as big as Asher's head. At this size their round multi-faceted eyes gave them a rather endearing sort of face. And the occasional rapid burst of colour heralded the brief passage of an enormous butterfly or moth.

The closer they drew to the trunk the more and more they could spy the amber sheets of honeycomb built in hanging sheets from the limbs. Each cell contained at least a palmful of the precious golden honey. If there was a Queen lurking about somewhere she had yet to be seen. The more of the expansive hive they say, the more the ground became uneven with the presence of gnarled roots. For the most part, Asher clambered over them on his own and expected Verissa to do the same, but once or twice he would attempt to lift her down, seemingly for no other reason than wanting to touch her for a moment.

"We won't take any honey until we have permission," he advised at one point when a couple of bees seemed to buzz in a somewhat more agitated way as they passed. The first sign that this place wasn't as benign as it appeared was a very old and brittle skeleton, a humanoid ribcage, mostly grown over with roots.

Finally, Asher refused to go any further, though the large trunk was quite close. "Nonna Ge'an!" He called loudly into the shaded clearing. He used a word that might have been grandmother, but also denoted a respected elder. "We are friends from the Kerawac..." he seemed a little uncertain. He hadn't been here in two decades and that was a lot of time for things to change. "Is it alright for us to say hello?"