Welcome to Elf City

Entering the city was an enlightening experience.

People. Lots of people. Mostly elves, but not entirely. A handful of humans. Here and there I spotted dark or cool-colored skin-tone or a set of animal ears. There was even a family of lizard folk tending one farm near the outskirts, and unless I was hallucinating, one of the vendors in the town market had antlers on his head, and my Forest Lore helped me identify one particularly beautiful woman dancing for an audience as a nymph.

Crossing the divide between the forest and the buildings had been risky in broad daylight, but as I scurried along the ground and then up onto the roof, I realized no one was really paying attention to their surroundings. Everyone had work to do, and they were safe here. Why should they bother keeping careful watch in their forest?

There were no guard patrols, no city wall. Some citizens greeted the trio as they returned, but I didn't get close enough to eavesdrop. It was enough for me to hop from building to building just to keep an eye on their route. Sure enough, it headed directly to the palace.

Legs eagerly set the lace until the two men decided to just let her go on ahead without them. The males tarried for a bit in the market sector, and I decided to continue tailing the female, supremely interested in locating her specific room of the place. But it was as I skirted the edges of the market streets that I realized I couldn't read the language in this world.

Signs, placards, advertisements, and large writing above the doors to the more permanent market buildings. All nonsense scribbles.

But Legs was moving faster without the men, so I couldn't stick around to see what other oddities would stand out about this world. I had to hurry. At one point, as I flew from the wood-shingle roof of a two-story residence towards the top of a large stone building, I turned to survey the block and looked directly into the faces of two boys who had been playing some kind of game on a balcony across the street.

Little more than children, the elven youths pointed at me excitedly and called loudly towards the interior of the dwelling. I didn't wait around to see who they were calling for or what the result would be.

I prioritized evasive action, ducking below the far edge of the building and clinging to the undersides of the eaves and awnings of the buildings.

It left me feeling more exposed to anyone who might have been in the street, but no one looked up. At least, I never heard any shouting in the few minutes it took me to take up Legs' trail again. I spotted her right outside the palace gate, brushing aside a man who looked like a fighter who wore a uniform as she stomped inside. No wall for the city but a wall and guards for the palace. Interesting.

It wasn't a very big wall, perhaps ten feet high. Not enough to keep out a determined trespasser, but I counted it.

I rotated along the building to see if I could catch a glimpse of my green-haired princess through the several windows of the palace facade. She entered, then turned left. Then I didn't see her for a while, then spotted movement in a hallway on the second floor.

There were a handful of guards in the courtyard, which was a lot if open space, so flying directly over their hands seemed too risky while the sun was still up, but I did move around to the left side of the palace perimeter to see what I could learn of the layout.