CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Explaining that they would understand what he meant when they saw it, Marcel led the group out of the forest edge, and into a human settlement.

It was Celia’s first time being in a place inhabited by the other species, but not her first time encountering humans. She had once encountered them with her father at a very young age. It had not been pleasant.

The settlement was big. Too big. She reckoned she could only see everything if she had a bird’s eye view. Flaming lanterns hung from lines that were tied from one wooden pole to another, illuminating the part of the settlement they were at. Humans milled about, some dressed in clothes much finer than Marcel’s, and others dressed in clothes as shabby as the rest of Celia’s group.

They conversed and spared them nothing but a glance as they moved about. Cabins flanked the roads, and other structures that seemed less for living and more for business.

Like the one Celia immediately swiveled her head to find. The aroma of intertwined and hea