“You mean to say that it’s not just the elves who live here?” Himeko asked, her tone guarded and wary.

“Is the whole forest,” Nashtra told her.

“The entire thing is alive?” Himeko asked him. “It seems pretty obvious; the plants are alive, animals are alive…”

“I mean more than that,” Nashtra told her. “I do not mean the simple definition of a living thing. The whole forest is aware, Himeko, it sent him, and everything is connected to everything else. Everything born in this forest is part of the interconnected web that comes from the bond that they all share with each other.”

“That sounds incredible,” Cerys told him.

“It really is,” the elf replied. He nodded to her, a faint smile on his face, as though he liked the idea of interconnectedness.