327 Crystal Lake City
While Owain sought to drown himself in the pleasures of the flesh to relieve the tensions of his failures, Ashlynn and Heila celebrated their recent victories in Crystal Lake City in very different ways.
There were very few attractions that could draw outsiders to the sleepy city built by the Ancient Clan.
When the flighty and animated Talauia had described it to Ashlynn, the city sounded as interesting as a stick in the mud.
It wasn’t until Jacques showed them a few of the local attractions that Ashlynn realized that being a stick in the mud wasn’t an entirely bad thing.
"De Ancient Clan, she’s filled with traditions dat are thousands of years old," Jacques had explained when they entered the city. "De way tings’ happen here, everything dat people do, it’s jus’ like it was a thousand years ago and more.
Not much new gets built here, but de places we have, dey get fixed up instead of tearing down and building new. "
"Families almost never leave where dey started," he said, his voice catching briefly as he looked at sprawling family home on one corner. "But by de time enough years have gone by, ever bit of it has been rebuilt at least once or twice," he explained.
The Ancient Clan’s homes reflected the same harmony with their environment that Ashlynn had seen in their shops and other buildings.
Unlike the tight-packed buildings of Blackwell City that tried to squeeze as many people as possible into the valuable harbor district, these homes spread out languidly, each one surrounded by broad verandas raised slightly off the ground.
The overhanging roofs extended far beyond the walls, creating deep pools of shade where members of the Ancient Clan lounged on cushions or woven mats, their scaled hides soaking in what rays of sunlight filtered through the cypress canopy.
Most of the buildings were low and squat, seldom raising more than two or three stories in height and constructed from baked mud bricks or rough cut timber. What surprised Ashlynn, however, was the number of cypress and tulip trees that lined the roads or filled the spaces between those buildings.
As they wandered deeper into Crystal Lake City, she was repeatedly struck by how different it felt from human cities she’d known or even the neatly organized districts of High Fen City.
Here, there were no rigid streets laid out in careful grids, instead, packed-earth paths meandered between the ancient trees like streams finding their natural course.
The paths widened into small squares where people gathered, then narrowed again as they wound between buildings, creating a rhythm that felt as natural as breathing.
As witches attuned to trees, all of them were sensitive to places where people had chosen to dominate the landscape with dense construction and the crowded life of urban centers, but walking through Crystal Lake City didn’t feel very different from walking through the forest. Certainly, there were more people about, but those people gave way before nature’s most majestic trees and built their homes and shops in the spaces between rather than clearing vast stretches of land to house their people.
Slowly, the trees thinned out as Jacques lead them toward the lakeshore.
Here, fewer people built houses and most of the nearby shops seemed to be dedicated to recreation rather than any serious form of trade.
Within a hundred paces, Ashlynn felt like she’d seen at least half a dozen small cafes, each one surrounded by clusters of people lazing about in the outdoor seating areas.
"Some people, dey say dat we’re lazy or sleepy because we spend so much time layin’ about in de sun," Jacques explained when he caught Ashlynn studying a group of elderly clan members playing some sort of game with carved tokens on a low table.
"But de sun, she gives us strength, yeah?
And what better way to spend your strength den enjoying life with family? "
As if to prove his point, they passed a small cafe where the scent of roasted nuts and fragrant tea drew them in.
Outside the small grass-roofed wooden hut, couples and small groups occupied nearly every table, but none seemed in any hurry to leave.
Instead, the proprietor and his young son brought out seemingly endless small dishes that they passed out to each table.
A few pieces of fruit here, a handful of spicy roasted chicken wings there, each serving small enough that it seemed more an excuse to continue talking than a proper meal.
"In Blackwell City," Ashlynn said as she imagined this sight playing out at home, "a cafe owner would go mad watching people occupy tables for hours while ordering so little." It brought to mind the recent dream she’d shared with Nyrielle when they gathered at a vendor’s stall to buy a basket of mussels.
Their picknick had been lovely, but few cafes held more than a few tables for people to dine at, rather, most people took their food and left to eat it elsewhere so the busy shop keepers could move on to the next customers before people could wander away to spend their money elsewhere.
"Ah, but here, dey know dat good food and good company feed de soul as much as de belly," Jacques said with a warm smile. "De Ancient Clan, we learned long ago dat having enough and enjoying what you have brings more happiness den always wanting more."
Looking around the scattered cafes that lined the meandering street, Ashlynn couldn’t help but agree with him.
Every face she saw looked genuinely content, whether they were young couples leaning close together over tiny cups of tea or groups of friends laughing as they shared small plates of colorful fruits and roasted meats.
Even the servers moved unhurriedly, stopping to join conversations as they delivered each small dish, as though the act of serving was as much about nurturing relationships as providing sustenance.
Looking around, she couldn’t help but feel like Talauia’s Glimmerwing clan had truly misunderstood the Ancient Clan.
Perhaps it was because the Glimmerwing clan focused so much on being the ultimate hunters that they were always chasing the slightest advantage, but when Ashlynn looked around, she didn’t seepeople who had failed to advance.
Rather, they were people who had advanced enough to know when to stop, as if to say "this is enough" and focus on enjoying what they had rather than constantly striving for more.
"I think I see why it isn’t very exciting to outsiders," Ashlynn said with a heavy sigh. "But seeing it and how happy everyone is... It almost makes me want to put down roots," she said with a soft chuckle at her own pun.
"So Jacques," Heila asked, chiming in from the opposite side of Ashlynn. "You’ve been keeping your lips tight ever since we sold our potions in the market when we arrived. Are you finally going to tell us about this surprise you’ve prepared for us? Maybe it’s not very exciting to outsiders, but you always do things for a reason," she said.
"Even if I can’t always understand it," she added quietly in a voice too low to be heard.
There had to be a reason why he’d skipped past every shop and cafe, taking them on a winding course through half the city until they reached the lakeshore. Now that they were here, just what did he have in mind?