Since the plains site was so close, that was the first location Shelby and her entourage visited. She was worried about leaving the Hodekin alone, but when she asked if they would be okay, Naile dismissed her qualms, "If they wanted to leave they would have run off the moment we arrived here."

  Still, Shelby thought about asking Thimble to watch them, but he seemed so excited about the whole process that she felt bad about the prospect of excluding him. All three of them ended up hiking the short distance to the site. The patchy grass lent itself to forming natural trails, so travel was quick.

  The site itself wasn't just grass. A few ancient structures were deteriorating inside of the circle where the map was revealed. There was even a patchy stone fence surrounding the territory. Right on the edge of the trees stood three fairly large buildings and one shallow root cellar. The buildings were brick and stone with scant evidence of long-gone wooden framing and roofs. The walls weren't in amazing shape, but they seemed like they could become functional with just a few repairs and maybe some grass bundles to cover the open ceilings.

  Shelby could tell that the primary benefits of the site were something like... close to the road, so trading would be easy. It seems like this used to be a farm, so they, we... could produce crops. There is already shelter... and it's close to the woods, so hunting and woodcutting are on the table.

  She laid out her ideas for Naile and Thimble. Thimble just nodded, but Naile grumbled at the list of positives, "This place is too open to attack. We are not farmers, either. Your faith that we can learn such a thing is misplaced."

  Shelby had to admit that it was very open. There was cover from the trees, but that was on the wrong side of the plot. Hodekin from the north wouldn't have any problems seeing it. She tapped her nose as she took one last look around. I still think that they could farm...

  Giving up on the first option, they doubled back to make for the forest hill area. It was at least a half kilometer off the road, but the area itself seemed promising. Just like the farm, this location had the remnants of long abandoned infrastructure. The area was perched upon a tilted slab that had drifts of soil and plant life laying in strips across the monolithic stone. There was a heavily decayed system of flattened tiers and stone fences as they climbed up, and an ancient foundation brought the stone into a large leveled surface at the peak. Behind it, a hundred foot drop separated the packed earth and cobblestones from the canopy below.

  Shelby smiled, this is a fun place. I bet there was a castle here before. The foundation wasn't enormous, maybe a 60 foot square, but it would probably be big enough for the Hodekin to build on comfortably. She sat down on the lip of the site and let her thoughts flow out to Naile and Thimble, "It seems very safe. Anyone who wants to attack would have to climb up a ways. This foundation seems solid, so it could support a lot of buildings. It seems pretty hidden, too."

  Naile nodded, clearly taken with the site, but Thimble had some glaring drawbacks to point out, "It's not close to the road, and building a road through the forest won't be easy. Even walking up here from the base is a big trek. Do you want to do that every time you go hunting or retrieve water? There's also no good soil nearby, so no farming."

  Shelby stood up and paced, "I still like this one more, even with those drawbacks. I guess we won't know until we see the last one!"

  The final site was even further from the road. Shelby estimated that it was almost a mile from where the carts had stopped. There did seem to be some road-like patches along the river once they returned to the grassy plains, but they weren't in much better shape than the weed-choked ruts that they had travelled here on. The site itself had been in view the whole time they had been walking about, Shelby just hadn't realized it yet.

  It was at the base of one of the huge trees that dotted the landscape to the north. The tree itself was in poor health, and only about a third of its impressive, domed canopy was intact. The rest of the branches were either dead and leafless, or completely missing. In fact, a large chunk of the tree on the southern side was carved out and a deep chasm was left behind in the golden wood. It was truly massive from up close. The tree was at least 100 feet tall, and maybe just as wide. The river Shelby had noted on her map ran directly under the tree, which had elevated itself with an impressive system of roots that stretched out for several hundred feet around its base. The river itself was wide and shallow, with a lazy current that headed west towards the bay between Copperglade and the rest of the continent. Neant?

  As they got closer, the ground beneath the tree became conspicuously sticky in some places and crunchy in others. Shelby squinted up at the tree's canopy and saw a steady drip of shimmering droplets falling from above. She held her hand out and a few thick drops stuck to her fur. Is it water from the river or something?

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  She raised her arm to her mouth to taste it and Naile stepped forward quickly to block her face. The wolf shook her head with a furrowed brow, "Don't put that in your mouth."

  Shelby slowly lowered her arm, "Why? Is it poison?"

  Naile coughed out a laugh, "No, it is just disgusting. That is honeydew. This is a rain tree. Have you never seen one before?"

  "I mean, I've seen them off in the distance..." Shelby blanched.

  "Yes, they are dominant plants in Kin Bleak, as you can see," Naile said with a gesture towards the many canopies in the distance.

  "Do the Hodekin live near them?" Shelby asked.

  "No. Normally, they are impossible to live near. I have never seen one grow this close to water though," Naile trailed off as she considered the tree ahead of them, "usually it's the earth around these trees makes them inaccessible. That substance, honeydew, attracts Burrower Ants. They ruin the earth with their tunnels and leave the trees surrounded by deep pits. Other animals flock to the pits, fighting over them, and make them dangerous. I see no pits here, though..."

  "Maybe because of the water level?" Thimble suggested from Shelby's side. He had also stopped with a dribble of the sticky liquid on his hand, a few inches from his mouth.

  "It seems so." Naile said with a shake of her head, "go wash your hands. That is insect waste."

  They skirted the edge of the canopy's shadow, simply to avoid being splattered with stick drops, then spotted another instance of what was becoming the unifying theme of the sites. The tree had been shaped to hold stone slabs that wound around its roots and trunk, and the slope led up to a ruined structure. It was difficult to tell because it was in terrible condition, but Shelby thought it was probably some kind of gate house in the middle of the bridge.

  "Huh, I guess that explains the patchy road on the way over here," Shelby said, then started to climb up to the structure.

  The building was on the verge of collapse, with many of its walls slumped over onto the stone path beneath them. The path was wide enough to allow two carts to pass, and it continued on to the other side of the river. Unfortunately it had gotten warped over untold ages, and no carts were going to travel by as it was.

  The building's main entrance was thankfully still intact, and it opened into a long arched hallway. A dim light was visible after about thirty feet. Shelby cautiously walked through the dark passage with her hand on one rough wall, then she gasped as she stepped into the lit area.

  The inside of the tree was hollowed out. A ragged gash of broken wood revealed twisted branches and a starry sky beyond. Shelby craned her neck to take in the extent of the opening from the surprisingly flat area inside. The tree's hollow seemed to be formed from a combination of rot, natural growth, and engineered demolition. The area just outside of the hallway was lined with flat pavers that has succumbed to buckling and infiltration from bark-covered tendrils. There were small alcoves and passages wandering through both polished and raw wooden surfaces.

  The area wasn't quite as big as the plains site or even the stone top clearing, but it was at least forty feet across and continued up a hundred feet towards its natural skylight. Shelby could almost imagine the towering structure that must have existed inside of this space before it was abandoned or lost. There were plenty of beyond-rotten scraps all over the floor to suggest that it held something grand.

  Thimble froze up beside Shelby, and Naile hissed out a breath of astonishment a moment later. Despite the natural light, it was still dim inside the chasm, and they retreated back to the bridge after a few minutes of looking around.

  Shelby found a smooth loop of wavy roots to sit on as she considered the location, "It's very far away from the road, and it seems like it was meant to be a guarded bridge, or something. The land doesn't seem ideal, especially the part crusted over in bug sugar..."

  She gazed south towards Copperglade. The forest started a few hundred feet from the beginnings of the stone ramp, essentially right where the rain tree's huge roots stopped winding through the plains.

  "It isn't that far from the forest, but it's the furthest of the three," She continued, "thoughts?"

  Thimble and Naile shared a glance, then Thimble spoke up, "It's awesome."

  Shelby laughed, "It is awesome... it just has a lot of problems."

  Naile crossed her arms, "It would be easy to defend. There won't be many, if any, approaching from the north, unless there is a bridge I do not see."

  Shelby followed her gaze. The wide river split a half mile to the east of the tree, and the twin branch of the river was just barely visible across some unremarkable grassy swampland. Shelby nodded, remembering her map, "This is an island."

  "So that leaves the south, and it would be a long approach from much further to the east," Naile said, "on top of that, most Hodekin would not approach a rain tree, because they are a danger."

  "Is this one a danger?" Shelby wondered.

  "I don't know what may live above, in the leaves, but we would have seen the beasts that usually live under a rain tree, if they were here. I think it is safe enough," Naile explained.

  Thimble paced across the edge of the bridge, looking down at the water, "Lots of work for us, too... I suppose that road could be repaired to some degree. There's certainly plenty of water..."

  "These trees' roots can be tapped for fresh water as well," Naile offered.

  Shelby grinned at that, "Really? That's cool. We could still have something like a well."

  "Yes, and plenty of wood too," Naile said with one of her coughing laughs.

  "No kidding," Shelby responded, "it was almost like carving out a cave rather than building something in there. Well, what do we think? Farm, rock castle, or bridge-y tree fort thing?"

  Thimble quickly spoke up, "Tree. It's too interesting to pass up."

  Naile coughed again as she relaxed against the bark, "I favor the tree too."

  "Okay! Three for the tree!" Shelby cheered, "let's go get everyone and figure out how to claim it."