Chapter 11: The Elves of Starsong Hill
It takes a few moments for some of ther adventurers stomachs to endure the exhilirating thrill of gliding through the air astride the giant owls. For their part, the elven pilots seem cognizant of this fact and refrain from partaking in any of the aerial acrobatics the party had previously observed. In short, the wild elves take it easy on the outlanders, though in truth, a few might be sorely tempted to push the limits just to get a rise out of these strange folk.
In any event, the giant owls are silent as they wing through the gloom, apparently able to navigate effortlessly through the darkness. Your elf escorts are also silent, aside from softly pointing out some dimly glimpsed landmark far below from time to time.
Before long, you reach your destination. Rising from the marsh is a low hill of solid ground, encircled by a thick ring of trees. Dozens of pinpoints of light dot the hill--small lanterns filled with fireflies, each hanging from a tree-platform or the upper reaches of a conical tent. Many elves silently emerge to watch as you fly overhead. Killiar produces a sleek, silver horn of some sort from a saddlebag and blows on wailing note similar to a loon's cry.
Near the hill's peak stand three trees, and built into their boughs are wooden structures. One glows softly with luminescence of its own and seems to be a temple. Another looks to be some sort of public building or town hall. The third, and your destination, is the smallest of the three--a cozy-looking tree house set above a large pool.
Killiar lands first, gliding his owl onto the porch of the tree house. With a swift, practiced motion, he effortlessly helps Eoni off the back of the owl. Moments later, the remaining owls deposit their charges one at a time, before they wing off to their nest, somewhere in the trees to the south.
The adventurers' legs are wobbly and the world seems to sways back and forth beneath them, the sensation of solid ground (albeit in the form of a raised wooden porch, high above the marsh), incongruous.