Darin heard Ridhane from the ground as she slowly made her way down. It seemed the warrior really had come to find her. Darin almost want to role her eyes. She had been taking care of herself for years. Nothing bad was going to happen in a city people seemed super nice and willing to help others. Alright, she supposed that she could get lost and she was still way clumsier than she really had any right to be. It seemed all the blade training in the world couldn’t train that out of her. It was slightly frustrating, but she supposed that it was what is was.

Darin called down, “Give me a minute. It’s dark. It’s harder to see where to place my hands.”

Zeven called up, “Do you need help?”

Darin responded, “No!” She muttered under her breath, “I’m not that bad.”

It took a few more minutes before she reached sheer truck again. Given the fact that it was dark Darin opted to use the ladders this time. She didn’t want to make it this far only to fall flat on her face. Once her feet were firmly on the ground a smiled lit up her face as she walked over to the two Eluri waiting for her to come down. Her smile turned into a smirk as she held up the chit that meant she had reached the top. She couldn’t help but savor the shocked looks on her challengers faces as she handed the chit over. Not one of them reached out to take it even as Darin held them out to do so.

Yari finally got out, “Keep it. We let people who make it too the top keep it. As a sign of accomplishment.” He suddenly remembered something else and reached into his money pouch, “And here.” He held out a few copper coins towards her, “Your entrance fee.”

Darin took the coins with a polite smile. Then suddenly the two Eluri bowed a bow that Darin could only vaguely recall about being the person bowing honored the person they were bowing to. It threw the young human off and for a moment her smile faltered. They she recalled her manners and bowed the bow she had been taught that came from a grateful guest to an attentive host. She hoped she didn’t offend either one of them and she didn’t think she did if the repeat of the strange bow meant anything. She wished she knew what that one meant. She had a feeling it was important.

Instead of asking she simply waved in farewell, “Fare thee well. My master has come to collect me so I must be off.”

Zeven hesitantly waved back, “Fare the well.”

YAri then told Darin, “If you ever want to scale the trees again just come show us your chit. We’ll let you up without the fee.”

Darin laughed as she told them, “I might just do that.”

With that being said Darin turned to Ridahne and they headed back to the inn. Darin supposed it was glad that the Azurei came to get her. She couldn’t rember the way back to where the inn was. As Darin followed her companion, she found herself thinking about what she had been thinking when she had been above the canopy. Ridahne’s brother was a fisherman and mad a living off of the sea. Where did the names come from? Did The Gardener know? The Tree hadn’t told her. Then again, The Tree mostly just told her about the history of Thee Trees and The Gardeners. The specific history of Astra hadn’t really been touched on. Before this journey Darin hadn’t cared much about history. Now she didn’t even know why humans were called the Children of the Stone.

She did find herself asking, “Ridahne? Why are Elves called Children of the Sky? Do you know? Are there stories that the Azurei tell?”

Darin had a feeling that it was like the story of Ravi. Both she and Ridahne had two different versions of the same story and it was possible that there were more. The true history had been lost. The Tree had been planted thousands of years ago. It made sense that some of the truth had been lost. Yet even in those stories some truth could be found. After all, in both stories of Ravi had included Ravi’s desire to ensure that no one got lost like they had. Both stories had included deities. Darin had heard a few different Eluri versions of the story and those facts were present in those stories as well. That made her think that whoever Ravi was they really had asked some sort of deity for help to guide others. There had to be stories about why Elves were the Children of the Sky. There might even be some hidden gems of truth in them.