Immortal Life Still Only Counts As One
 

Vena's pale eyes were bright as she trekked through the pleasantly cool forest. She just knew that there was a perfect tree in those woods where she could build an amazing treehouse. She just had to find it.

Rory grumbled to herself as she followed after Vena, the wooden beads in her hair clacking against one another gently.

"Haven't you found it yet?" she asked, only a little grumpy. She could trek along just fine, but she preferred stone to woods.

"Not yet," Vena replied, slipping between a pair of saplings. "It has to be perfect."

Rory heaved a put-upon sigh, but didn't actually go off on her own or anything. She just kept following Vena.

Occasionally, Vena would pull herself up into a tree to just see and feel how it had grown and where the branches all were. She was certain she would know the perfect tree when she found it. She was distracted, however, when she climbed a particularly clumsy-looking tree, and happened to spot a thin trail of smoke rising into the sky off in the distance. She climbed higher to get a good look at what was out there.

"What? What do you see?" Rory called up to her. She was growing a tad impatient in the woods, especially since they kept passing what looked like perfectly good trees.

"I'm not sure," Vena called back down as she went up a few more branches. They were starting to get thin. "I think it's a village. But there's not supposed to be anything out here, is there?"

"No, nothing recorded out here," Rory said with a shrug. "A village? Seriously?" She snorted. "What, more tree-huggers?"

"No idea," Vena replied. She squinted a bit. "But it's a fair size, I think. I'm not sure, but I think a lot of those little hills out there might not be hills after all."

Rory grunted at that. "Let's go investigate, then," she said. Better than plodding along in the woods, at least.

"Alright." Vena deftly climbed back down the tree again, hopping lightly from branch to branch until she was able to just drop to the ground again. "It was that way," she said, pointing east. "A fair ways."

Rory nodded and started walking. "See anything else of interest up there? Like maybe the damned tree we're supposed to be finding in here? If such a tree actually exists." She rolled her eyes.

"It does exist," Vena insisted, grinning a bit. "I know it does. I just have to find it." She kept pace with Rory as they went to find the source of the smoke she saw.

Rory snorted at that and shook her head, her beads clacking together.

It didn't take them long to find the source of the smoke. They topped a hill where the trees had thinned out and a whole village stretched out below them, people bustling about working, children running around, even animals flopped out enjoying the sun.

"What is this place?" Rory asked, her voice a murmur.

"I don't know," Vena replied just as quietly. "We're out in the middle of nowhere, this place shouldn't exist."

"No, it shouldn't," Rory said, looking around. Then she frowned. She herself wasn't exactly tall by any standards, but these people looked to be rather short.

"Is it just me or are these people like half my height?"

Vena blinked.

"Well, you're not exactly short, but..." She trailed off. Something wasn't right, here.

Rory shook her head. "It's still not right," she said, unconsciously echoing Vena's thoughts. "Should we take a closer look?"

"I'm not sure," Vena replied, still looking at the village. She glanced at Rory. "But I kind of want to."

Rory grinned. "Then let's go." She headed down into the valley easily, looking around as she walked. It really was rather fascinating.

Vena followed, just as fascinated with the little village. All of the homes seemed to be dug into the hills, with only doors and windows to mark them, and there were more than Vena had originally thought. Everything seemed oddly small, though, even the people, and she noticed that they were getting stares immediately.

Rory looked around, her eyes wider than normal. This was really kind of fascinating.

Even when some people came out of nowhere and surrounded the two of them. They were all tall and willowy and lithe, and one of them stepped forward to speak to the two.

"How came you upon this place?"

Vena blinked. The newcomers spoke with an oddly familiar accent that she couldn't quite place.

"We were out in the woods," she said. "We stumbled on this little village."

The man nodded. No one had gotten this far in quite a while.

"I see. If you two would come with us, please?"

'Why?" Rory asked, eyes narrowed just a little. She didn't think she liked this guy.

Vena was also wary.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. "If visitors aren't allowed, we'll leave, it's no big deal."