By the time the sun began sinking behind the towering canopy, the once-untouched forest had already undergone an astonishing transformation.
What had greeted Aurora that morning as a wilderness filled with ancient trees now bore unmistakable signs of becoming a settlement. The fifteen naturally hollow tree trunks had been thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom. Years of accumulated dirt, decaying leaves, insect nests, rotten wood, and tangled vines had all been removed. Fresh air now flowed freely through every hollow trunk, and sunlight reached places that had likely remained in darkness for decades.
