Six people dressed in dark olive green cloaks, each was mounted on a horse with an additional horse having a wheeled slide attached to it. On the slide was a large stone with various marks on it. All were under a night’s sky that was full of stars and a pale full moon as they stood a good five meters from the edge of a forest. Five of them were women, Chancellor Puddinghead, her secretary Smart Cookie, Princess Platinum and her advisor, Clover the Clever, and last among the woman went by the title ‘Private’ and was named Pansy. The remaining member of the group was a man, Commander Hurricane, “Are you sure this a good idea, Clover?” Hurricane asked as he dismounted his horse, drew his sword and stepped to be in front of the others. “If what you managed to translate from the pillars of the Grand Hedge is true…”
“If we want to live in this area, it would be wiser to not anger the powers greater than us.” Clover cut the warrior short as she rode her mount in front of him. Hurricane was about to protest when Pansy directed her horse to be next to him and placed her hand on his upper arm. The commander turned to face his swordbearer and sighed in reluctant agreement. Clover smiled and dismounted her horse and walked closer to the tree line but stopped about two meters away from it. “Great keeper of the forest!” Clover called out in the directions of the woods to whatever resided within. Clover turned to the side and raised her hand towards the stone. “We seek to reside not far from here. But we know that you, a spirit of the world, are concerned about the forest you reside in.” There was a gust of wind that had a slight growl in it. Clover then levitated the stone and drove into the ground a meter ahead behind her before she walked back to be behind it. “This, in our culture is called a border stone, a marker of territory. We and those of our kin and their lines shall not settle on the forest side of this stone. All we ask is that the forest does not grow to the other side of the stone.” Clover paused and waited.
After a minute of no response, just as Hurricane prepared to draw his sword, “Agreed.” came a voice from with the forest. It sounded feminine, but also ancient, as the owner had seen thrice the lifetimes of the oldest tree alive in the forest. From the forest, a vine grew at an otherwise impossible speed and wrapped itself around the stone. There was then a sudden unexplained gust of wind and the forest fell silent again.
Clover turned to her comrades and smiled, “We can now settle here.” The other five just looked at each other confused for a moment but they all elected to not question Clover, she had been proved right more times they would care to count.