Walking Into the Library It Was All Harry Could Do Not to Laugh at the Conversation He

Walking into the library it was all Harry could do not to laugh at the conversation he was hearing.

“It’s not fair I tell you. All those tomes and books calling to me and I can’t even step on the top step leading down to the floor,” Naithar wailed at the unfairness of it all from the balcony to Saero on the Library floor below.

Hearing Saero’s laughter carry across the room Harry had to laugh when Naithar shook his fist as he yelled down, “You are evil…Evil I tell you. The least you could do is to bring me some of those lovely books to enjoy.”

“Naithar stop your whining. And Saero stop teasing the poor Elf, he might spontaneously combust if you keep that up and that is not a good thing to happen around so many books,” Harry laughed at their antics forgetting all about the headmaster as he laughed.

Naithar whirling around at the laughter behind him tried his best to look like a kicked puppy but failed.

Leaning over the edge of the balcony Harry smirked at the Lord of the Hidden Valley dancing around down below as a taunt to the other, “So you did tease him on purpose.”

Laughing Saero leapt up the stairs two at a time telling him, “Sure it’s not my fault he could not follow me down here, or that fact he was drooling on the floor at the sight of so many books in front of him that it left him trembling with anticipation.”

Harry fell onto the couch in laughter after Naithar tried to protest, “It was a leg cramp from being dragged to this room so quickly not anticipation.”

Calming down Harry sat up, “Thank you, both of you I needed that.”

“Hard day Young Lord?” Saero inquired as he came up the steps and sat down.

After recounting his morning where he had both of them rolling around in laughter at the vision of Dumbledore fishing in a stream in retaliation for his verbal fishing trips Harry asked, “Just what did the High Elves do to the Goblins that leaves them trembling in fear unable to move at the sight of us.”

Smiling at hearing the young Lord say ‘us’ instead of ‘you’ Saero told him, “Ever have a story after many retellings and years grow so larger than life that it no longer is any where near what actually happened?”

Shaking his head Harry replied, “Story of my life.”

“Something similar happened here.” Saero told him the tale, “Long ago a small tribe of Goblins decided to declare war on a traveling group of elves. Hearing this the guide used his magic to kill those that had fallen into bloodlust and scared the rest into never even thinking about attacking one of our people. Over time it has changed to us killing every warrior world wide in the blink of an eye after the declaration of war had been uttered.”

“It is so easy for the young races to believe anything they hear about us because we are such a private people, preferring our own company rather than mixing,” Naithar added.

Harry grimaced at those words knowing he certainly was making a stir amongst the Wizarding world, “Yes well about that it seems I have not been as careful as I could have been.”

“Do not worry so much young Lord,” Saero told him jovially. “You are a catalyst for change; it is your job to stir things up by just being you.”

Naithar seeing Mytimah grimace told him, “Stop that. This is not something you control it is who you are. You make the world a better place by just doing what you are doing now.”

Harry shook his head, not sure he agreed with him or not but he was willing to let it drop for now, “So what brings you two here today?”

“Well I wanted to check on the Unicorns and make sure they were doing alright, even knowing that if they took a turn for the worse you would have called us back. But mostly I wanted to take a look at one of the House trees in the daylight, the idea of their creation fascinates me to no end,” Naithar told him, heavily hinting he wanted to get his hands on one.

“And I am here on two pieces of business then I plan to roam around in the bottom of the gorge, I noticed some plants growing down there I have never seen before,” Saero told him his reasons for coming today.

Harry stared at him blankly for a moment before standing up and motioning for them to follow him, “We can talk on the way to the grove. I need to take a look at how many are ready for harvest anyway now that Sanctuary increased in size.”

Following Harry out of the door Saero was confused, “What do you mean now that Sanctuary increased in size?”

“That’s the thing; the old boundaries of Sanctuary could be reached with a good two days hard march,” Harry told him.

Turning the corner Saero interrupted, “I remember, and it was patrolled by this incredible looking Sphinx.”

“So that is where he went off to,” Harry mused out loud before continuing. “As I was saying when I woke up this morning I was extremely weak and when I checked my core it had been severely depleted, after looking at the map of the grounds I saw why.”

Entering the kitchen Harry stopped at the map on the wall and pointed to it, “Somehow Sanctuary has increased in size exponentially. It will now take five days of hard running to reach the borders from this spot, over ten days of hard running from one side to the other.”

Saero opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to understand the magic that would make this possible, “How can you be up and around and energetic if your core is so depleted?”

“That’s the thing, after seeing how much my holdings had increased I went to the central chamber where the control crystal is housed, the one that holds the wards and protections,I noticed the crystal had also grown. After touching it to see if it was an illusionary growth or physical my core was refilled.”

“Was this typical of your world, this crystal based magic?” Saero asked as he looked in wonder at the map, you could cross the Hidden Valley in two days, and here it would take ten to go from one side to the other.

Really thinking about it Harry answered slowly, “It was not common use to use crystals, it was one of the things that gave me such a huge advantage in the war being able to store spells and magic like I did. Now that I think on it, I discovered the books that I learned this magic from here in this outpost, this was my secret hidden Sanctuary from the war and the world,” Harry said as he moved towards the door leading to the yard.

Thinking back to what he had read so far in the journal he had been loaned on Harry’s life Saero said, “Wait a minute, I know you planned this trip for several years and made preparations.”Following him outside Saero asked, “Do you mean to tell me you brought more than a few belongings and yourself to this world? Are you saying you brought this building with you also?”

Shrugging his shoulders Harry answered, “I spent several years powering several large crystals around my holdings and tying them in with the central crystal so that when I made the jump buildings and all would come through with me and the protections would be active the moment we arrived.” Including my hidden cavern full of gold and gems he smirked at that thought.

“Incredible,” Saero whispered in awe as he looked around to the structures and huge house he had just left.

“This ties in on of the reasons I came here today,” Saero told him as he waved at some of the little beings happily toiling in the large gardens.

Trying to phrase it is such a way Harry would not dismiss it out of hand, “Some of our people would like to move here and study some of the new things and magic’s you brought with you.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Harry said before he rounded on him with horror. “Are you asking me to become a teacher?”

“You have the single largest repository of knowledge on this planet right now. What the other Lords and I are asking is to open up your holding to those that want to learn and for you to be available to steer in the right direction those who choose to learn what this place has to offer,” Saero tried to make it sound like something else.

“You are asking me to teach the teachers,” Harry snorted in amusement, “No matter how you word it Saero you are asking me to teach.”

“I suppose I am,” Saero said with a smile, it would be one way to break Mytimah’s self imposed exile.

Stopping in front of the grove Harry thought about what was being asked of him as he stared at the trees in front of him loaded down with seeds.

Naithar at the first sight of the trees had rushed ahead so he could get a better look yelled back, “How do you get inside?”

Facing Saero as he made his decision Harry told him, “Alright, limited teaching and if I can point them in the right direction instead that will have to do for now.”

“Agreed,” Saero practically yelled the answer, happy Harry was willing to share his knowledge and skills.

“Mytimah,” Naithar yelled out in impatience at being ignored.

“We better get over there before he gets any more impatient and drags you over to the tree kicking and screaming,” Saero laughed and waved at the Elvin healer just to annoy him.

Harry looked over his shoulder and seeing the Elf scowling whispered, “He probably would do it too.”

Laughing as he started to walk into the grove Saero replied, “No probably about it.”

Grinning Harry walked over to the impatient Elf and told him, “See the knot, the one that is a slightly darker color next to the hole in the trunk.”Waiting until Naithar told him he did, Harry explained, “Touch it then feed it a bit of your magic and the door will open.”

Grinning like a three year old on his birthday as he opened his gifts, Naithar did as he was told and jumped in joy when the trunk opened up with a doorway.Peeking his head inside Naithar was startled to find a staircase that had a gentle rise as it circled the outside of the tree, “I would have though it opened up into a dwelling?”

Shaking his head no Harry told him as he stepped inside and pointed to another knot off to one side on the inner trunk, “There are around fifteen levels in a mature tree, each level has its own door and is a separate dwelling.”

Activating the knot with a burst of his magic Harry walked in the room and gazed at the crystal lying on the floor.Warning the other to avoid stepping on the crystal Harry noticed that it would need to be recharged in another month.

Leaning over to get a better look at the crystal lying on the floor Saero asked, “Why do you have one of your crystals placed where it could be trampled?”

“Normally you do not need any other source of magic to keep the tree strong and healthy as it takes what is needed from the ambient magic of those that reside inside give off,” Harry told him as he showed Naithar some of the peculiarities of the house tree.“Since there are no magical beings living inside I needed a way to add the magic needed so the tree would mature its seed pods. Hence the crystals,” Harry explained.

Naithar was ecstatic with what he was seeing and opening up the loo he asked, “How in the name of the Valar do you handle waste?”

“Ah, it all runs down an elongated Vacuole to the root system of the tree where it is converted to food to support the trees continued growth,” Harry explained to the excited Elf.

“Unbelievable what you have created using this green magic you were telling me about.” Naithar told him before blurting out, “So when can I get my hands on a seed pod so I can plant my own house tree?”

Escorting the two out side Harry went over to one of the pod laden branches and closely examined one.“Well you could take one today if you were willing to plant it in the next hour, no longer than and hour and a half,” Harry told him.

“I can do that, I have the perfect place to plant it, not to far or to near a gentle rambling stream that rambles through this meadow not far outside the village,” Naithar’s eyes gleamed as he thought about moving into the tree.

“You do know it will take a little bit before it is large enough to live in right?” Harry asked as he looked sideways at the excited Elf.

“I remember you saying that you could accelerate the growth with magic. Several of us are planning on feeding our magic to the tree so it will mature quicker,” Naithar brushed off Harry’s question.

“The pod is viable right now, but still a few days from maturity. Maturity would give it the opportunity to be viable for up to a week’s time until hit by a stray bit of magic initiating the growth cycle.” Harry explained while Naithar wrote the instructions down on a note pad he pulled from his pocket, “What you need to do his trickle a bit of your magic into the pod after pushing it halfway into the soil. That will initiate the growth cycle. Once the tree starts to sprout direct a steady stream of water near its roots and feed a good bit of magic into it by direct contact, until it is around two meters tall.”

“When can we start feeding it magic for its next growth spurt?” Naithar asked looking up from his notes.

“What you need to do next is spend a couple of days burying at different levels wine cask size pockets of concentrated fertilizer. Spread them out starting at a meter and a half from the sapling and then every two meters there after. Make sure the farther you go out from the trunk the deeper the pockets are.” Harry waited until Naithar caught up writing his notes and looked up again eager to hear more, “Then wait until a heavy downpour, the heavier the better and feed the magic to the tree as fast as it will accept it.” Harry then warned him, “Though the moment the rain stops you need to also. Do not feed the tree any significant amounts of magic to force growth unless there is enough moisture falling to supply the trees rapid growth.”

“After that, it is a matter of letting the tree settle down for a week once it is around thirty meters tall and then you can move in,” Harry finished his lesson with a smile. “It takes a couple of hours before the tree will strengthen completely for habitation once it senses magic inside it, and once all levels are inhabited it will start to grow upwards at the rate of a level a year as long as you keep each level inhabited.”

“What is the maximum height then?” Naithar asked as he stared at the large tree in front of him.

“I really don’t know as I never have tried to find out,” Harry said thoughtfully.

Looking around Naithar spotted a nice big brown pod and rushed over to it, “This one…Can I have this one.”

Laughing at the Elf’s eagerness Harry walked over so he could show him how to harvest the pods, “To harvest you place a finger here and push your magic at this joint until it falls away, baring that you let them mature and fall to the ground and levitate them to where you want to plant them, as the slightest bit of direct magic once they mature will cause them to sprout.”

Naithar gently placed his finger on the stem at the joint that was pointed out to him and sent a small burst of scanning magic at the joint.Ecstatic when the heavy pod came loose in his hands Naithar almost dropped it not realizing how heavy it was, “It’s heavier than I thought.”

Cradling the pod to his chest he seemed to suddenly realize that the clock was ticking and took off running towards the array so he could open a rift to go back home and he yelled out, “Thank you,” as he passed the top of the hill.

“Well he will be out from underfoot for several weeks until he has grown that tree,” Saero laughed before facing Harry again, “The second part of my business is in two parts. The first was to ask you to allow those from the other two Elvin lands through your wards, which would tie in with you allowing others to come here to study.” Saero informed him that they needed his permission to travel through the wards.

“I can do that; it might be easier to allow any High Elf travel access to the array’s,and the second part?” Harry asked with a sinking feeling.

This was the tricky part. Saero knew the young Lord wanted peace and solitude after the years of battling it out in a war, “The other Lords and I were wondering if you would allow some of our people to make their homes in your lands?”