After she gave up on breaching into the palace of Sadina, they returned to their hotel room, not before having a rather expensive dinner at the hotel's restaurant. The effects of the Radiating Undergrowth that she had fed the boy had finally faded, and she didn't want to give it again to him after she saw how much he enjoyed eating.

  Once the young druid fell asleep, it was her turn to escape into the blanket of the night.

  Perhaps she was naked, but her night-black skin showed nothing. The effects of the stealth stance on her body almost seemed to defy the laws of nature as light refused to reflect on her skin.

  Aloe took a deep breath. She oversaw the nocturnal Sadina from her vantage point on the rooftop of the Highrise Hotel.

  Beautiful was the illuminated skyline, flared with a thousand lights all born from the Myriad. The only clue down on the streets that it was even night was that the color of the sky had changed from blue to black, yet people of this age had not to fear the darkness.

  But some might fear her.

  With inhuman prowess, Aloe jumped from rooftop to rooftop, no matter if they were tens of meters apart. Subtlety hid not only her body but also her sound, for she was even more silent than the noise of the nighttime in the big city.

  She doubted her exploration could grant any insights as Sadina was a big city, and the clues she had about the location of the kidnapped villagers were something about cotton fields. And such fields were nowhere near here.

  For today, she just stalked for assassins. It was hard overwatching the whole city, but her senses were keen. The many cultivators Sadina hosted did create some interference as once their vitality was well into the two digits, they outshone nearby people. She focused her gaze on the world of ideas, looking for the distinctive presence of assassins, but that realm became thicker and more expansive the more it was observed, and the modern Sadina couldn't be compared to the cities of yore, not even Asina.

  Too many people lived in the city turning the normally translucent buildings into solid walls of cyan.

  It is infuriating that this tool has lost its efficacy before I could even use it. Aloe murmured to herself before calling it a day. Dawn was a handful of hours away, and she found nothing.

  By the time Xochipilli woke up a few hours later, she had long dressed and even brought him a handful of pastries so they could start their day as soon as possible.

  "What is our plan today?" The child asked as soon as they left the hotel.

  "I've unfortunately failed to find any hints of the location of your village's people, so we'll have to stay in Sadina for a bit longer. So for starters, let's find a cheap place to stay in."

  Surprisingly, it was as easy as it was said. Sadina proved to be quite a tourist spot, so there were many lodgings. Some were rather dubious-looking but considering that nothing in their suitcase was worth stealing, they stayed in the cheapest place that was clean. Yeah, that was the bare minimum. Being clean.

  "It's the second time today," Xochipilli said as he pointed at one of the silhouettes moving in the sky. "What are they?"

  "I don't know, but at least I can tell they are man-made." Aloe decided not to dwell on the moving silhouette in the sky. Truth be told, she actively decided not to think about anything as of late.

  For the rest of the day, they asked around as inconspicuously as possible about the cotton fields, and where the closest may be located. If she couldn't find assassins in the night, she would have to go personally to the place where the villagers had been taken. Even if she had to search through tens of different cotton fields.

  The answers were always the same: the closer a farmland is to the World Tree, the more fertile and bountiful its produce will be.

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  "World Tree, huh?" Aloe mused as she looked at the ter'nar's expansive canopy. It was almost a second sky. "I like that name, it's very fitting."

  The Heart of the Evergreen, or World Tree as most people called it, was a source of richness for the soil. However, it wasn't like people could just cultivate next to it. Dryads notwithstanding, it seemed that the closer one got to the World Tree, the thicker the foliage and the monster population became, therefore making the land even more inhospitable than an actual desert.

  But after talking about these guardians of the World Tree so much, it inevitably led to one question.

  "What are dryads?" Xochipilli asked a nice old lady they had found feeding pigeons. She had quite an amount of vitality, but the old druid wasn't surprised to see people with Haya in their double digits anymore. What Aloe didn't fail to notice was how there were Flourishing Springs planted all along the park. But at the same time, she couldn't say she was surprised.

  First the Cottonpull, then the Myriad, the Thousand Cuts too, and most likely also the Aloe Veritas – even if she had yet to see one – as the people of this age knew the names only she should have. So adding the Flourishing Springs to the growing pile of her plants was no surprise at all. What she was bewildered by was the lack of ter'nars around. How has the tree become so massive yet failed to spread around? When they asked around, no one seemed to be aware of another World Tree, even if it were only a miniature version.

  "Dryads, eh," the old lady pursed her lips as she threw rice. "They are quite the sight, they are, yeh. You won't see them anywhere else in Ydaz, nay, the whole world. 'Tis but only the presence of the World Tree that they are attracted to."

  "We understand that," Aloe said calmly to the wrinkled and gray-haired woman who was infuriatingly younger than her. "But what are they?"

  "It's hard to give them a description, they are just dryads." The druid had a hard time containing her frustration. Did we choose the only senile woman in the park?

  "But if you had to?" Xochipilli asked sweetly, showing his ability to sweeten the hearts of old women.

  "Hmm… I'd say they are moving plants."

  "Moving plants? Like the Thousand Cuts?" The child added.

  "No," the old woman swayed her head. "Those are mindless brutes. The dryads are sentient. Most call them monsters, but monsters aren't plants. And they can talk."

  "Djinns can also talk," Aloe interjected.

  "Aye," the woman nodded, "but they just imitate speech like a parrot would." What's a parrot? Aloe questioned but didn't form it into words as Xochipilli nodded in understanding. Must be something from the new world.

  "So dryads are capable of communication?"

  The old woman nodded again. "I've been living all my life in Sadina, but I've also met them once. Or rather, I met her once. And mind you, I've been here a long while."

  "Her?" Aloe frowned. "Didn't you say they were plants? How can they be a 'she'?"

  "Now that you say it… I don't really know." Heavens above, kill me already. "I guess they don't have a gender as such, but they all look feminine. Maybe not all of them are curvaceous, but they certainly boast bountiful chests. Like just like you, lady."

  The woman unapologetically grabbed one of Aloe's tits, but she just sighed. "So plants with breasts, eh?"

  "Aye," the old woman removed her hand though she looked closer at Aloe. "I must be going blind because you look like one yourself. Especially with all those leaves on your head."

  "Uh…" The old druid groaned in confusion. She's the first person to point out my ivy hair besides Xochipilli, though he was aware of that before I switched to glamour. Has she seen through my glamour? Hmm… Aloe decided not to ask the old woman about it, mostly because she wanted to be done with her and just stood up.

  Their next destination would be the World Tree, but for today they would still rest in Sadina as it was a solid day of walking away. Just like the greenhouse had once been.

  "Thank you for tolerating our questioning," Xochipilli politely bowed to her.

  "Not a problem, child," the woman responded, her eyes blinking slowly as they were worn with age. They were mostly deprived of color. "I'm just a woman whose family decides to ignore her. Any company is appreciated."

  As they were about to leave the woman alone with the birds again, another of those silhouettes passed through the sky.

  "What are those?" The child asked her for one last time.

  "Those?" She chuckled. "They are airships. Quite the recent invention. Soaring through the skies, they are the vehicle of the elite, moving through the most important cities of the Caliphate, namely Asina, as walking on the ground is too beneath them. Back in my day, we treaded through the dunes with our own legs!"

  Aloe sighed at the woman's words. It was impossible for her to have treaded the Qiraji when the Evergreen had overtaken the desert with its forest decades, if not centuries, ago.

  "Between Sadina and Asina, eh?" The emerald-eyed woman mused with the airship in her sights.

  Still with her eyes occupied, she didn't fail to notice Xochipilli's attentive gaze. His yearning gaze. She had told him of her final destination, that she had to get to Asina, and that had created a bit of expectation by the looks of it. The child might not be putting it into words, but that gaze spoke thousands of them.

  "Hmm…" Aloe coyly put a finger on her lips. "Maybe we can ride one of these airships on our way to Asina!"

  "Yesh!" Xochipilli hopped as a burst of happiness and a heavy accent erupted from him.