This place was unnatural. The kind of unnatural that made even the feathers stand up on edge.

"You'll be able to avoid most of this yourself, being able to fly and all," Vim said calmly.

"Mhm…" I nodded, and was thankful for that fact. This whole forest was somehow enraptured in darkness. Even though it was the middle of the day.

Yet as dark as it was, I was oddly able to see Vim rather clearly. As too could I see the trees all around us, and the shrubs and grass…

As if it wasn't actually dark at all, and it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.

"There's a monarch nearby. But it's lame. Unable to move. Stuck where it is. I'll show you where it is later," Vim said.

Huh…? "You left it alive?" I asked. If it wasn't able to move around, why let it live? Not like it could run away from him or anything.

"It's pregnant. I want to see what it gives birth to," he said.

"You're such an odd man, Vim," I said.

He chuckled at that but nodded.

Studying the protector's back as I followed him through this odd forest, one supposedly inhabited by a monarch which was pregnant, I wondered why here of all places was where he had decided to help me find a home.

I didn't mind the dark. I wasn't scared of it, like so many others… but this dark was unsettling even to me. Plus I didn't much like the idea of living near a monarch, even one unable to move around.

So why should I live here…?

Not that it mattered, I guess… it's not like I had much choice. Plus this was Vim's way of helping me, and I doubted he'd take me somewhere to settle that was… well… dangerous, I guess.

"Are there a lot of us, Vim?" I asked.

"A lot of who?"

"Those like me. Who now need new homes, what with us being banished from Telmik and such," I said.

"Ah. Yes. I've already dealt with most of them, and the few that are left are either dealing with the problem themselves or have others to help them. Most left Telmik or one of the branch locations years ago, having already known it was going to happen," he said.

"So I'm the outlier?" I asked, a little annoyed over that fact. Was it because I'd been the last to be told, or was I just a procrastinator?

"Not really. You've been traveling around with me so much lately we've just not had to worry about it."

Hmph. "Well at least I…" I started to speak, to defend my lack of effort on finding a new home, but went quiet as a… wall of light appeared in the distance.

Vim slowed a bit, turned and smiled as he gestured at it. "Your new home. Or well, I suppose I should say you're possible new home. You can always choose another place, Lilly" he said gently.

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I opened my wings and took off. The trees were high enough that I was able to fly under them, staying low to the ground, as I hurried to the wall of light… and entered it.

Immediately I felt the warm sunlight on my wings as I entered what could only be explained as a huge open field of light. There were still trees, and their canopy's were still thick and blocked out a lot of sunlight… but it was a genuine and literal night and day difference from the forest of darkness I'd just been in.

Flying upward, I went higher into the sky… and eventually flew up and past the trees themselves. I found myself staring out at a sea of green all around me, with mountains off in the distance. I spun around a bit, to get a better idea of where I was and how deeply we had traveled into this forest, and was pleasantly surprised to see we were basically dead center of it.

As I spun around, I hesitated and flapped backward a bit as I suddenly came face to face with something. A little shocked, I couldn't believe my eyes when I found a huge branch, covered in thick leaves, not far from me.

Stunned, I flew backwards quite a bit as to take in the sight of a huge tree. One that towered over all the other trees, rising higher than likely even the spires on the Cathedral in Telmik. It loomed above even me, who was high up above the forest trees.

The singular tree was massive. Too massive. Unnaturally massive. How had it taken me this long to notice it…? Almost as if I had not been able to see it until just now, somehow… the thing was unmistakably the biggest tree I'd ever seen. Even bigger than those massive trees along the coast up north, the ones Vim said were the tallest species of trees.

I flew around the tree a couple times, to take in its grandeur… and then after I calmed down I went ahead and flew back down into the clearing. I found Vim waiting for me, standing patiently in the center of the huge field of light.

"Vim…!" I couldn't help it, I grew emotional as I landed next to him and turned to look up at the massive tree. It was dead center in the huge field, as if the very heart of this whole forest.

"Neat huh? I figured we could build you a tree-house on it," he said happily as he pointed up at the huge trunk. It was large enough that we'd not just be able to build upon it, and around it, but even into it. It'd not notice at all a house being carved out of it, that was how big it was.

"It's perfect…" I whispered.

"Mhm. A huge owl used to live here too. A monarch. Was a snarky thing, kind of like you," he said happily.

I found my already fascinated self grow even more interested as I turned to look at him. "An owl!? Really?" I asked. Why was this the first time I was hearing about it! That was likely my very own ancestor!

He nodded with a frown. "Really. I regrettably had to kill it… the thing ate people like you wouldn't believe, in fact if you dig around you'll likely find bones and stuff of them, they had once littered this whole area," he said as he glanced around. I figured as much. Vim basically never allowed monarchs to live, unless he had a reason to do so. But still! To think I'd be living where my, potential, ancestor had once nested…

Blinking a pair of suddenly blurry eyes, I took a deep breath and realized I liked the smell of this place. It was a little damp, likely thanks to how far north we were, but it wasn't the smell of snow. I smelled the trees particularly, the forest itself, and it was… soothing. Calming. I wasn't bothered by it at all.

The surrounding wall of darkness all around us was odd, but it was the same as a huge gate. No humans, even non-humans, would dare to venture into it. They'd see it as something dangerous, something unnatural, and would thus avoid it. Then the massive area of light gave one plenty of space, to either build a home or farmland… not to mention I'd be able to easily fly here no matter the weather or my condition thanks to the huge tree as a landmark… something that no one else, no one who didn't have the ability to fly like I did, would be able to use against me. Not to mention thanks to the forest all around me, even as weird as it was, there would be plenty of food and game for me to hunt.

For a home I could not ask for a better location. It was secluded, protected, and had plenty of resources for anything I needed. Plus as he just said, if we made my home up in the tree… that'd just be another layer of security. Even a non-human would find it difficult to scale this tree, at least not without me hearing and noticing them do so!

This place was perfect. Which told me just how well he knew me, and that fact made me so utterly happy I couldn't properly explain it.

Looking around again, at my new home, I felt my eyes well with tears… and before I could do anything or say anything I spun around and hurried over to Vim.

Giving him a huge hug, I vowed once again to always help him. For anything and everything. I'd put up with all the Society, all its issues and headaches, for this man. He was worth it.

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