Light diffused into the room as Mecora woke. She took a deep breath, and smiled as the smell of flatcakes filled her nose. She didn’t waste much time getting up and going to the front room. “Mmm, good morning.”
Her mom glanced over at her. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. I haven’t slept like that in so long.... It’s hard to sleep in a tree, you know. Can’t lie flat.” And then, with a pang, she thought of Spreak. Would he be worried about her? Suddenly the flatcakes didn’t seem as tempting... but not long, as her mother got out the fruit syrup.
She decided to give in to temptation and sit down.
“Boys? Breakfast is ready!” she called.
A half beat and the two came out. As they came around the stove, their eyes brightened. “Mecora!” they chorused, running over to hug her.
Awkwardly she held onto both and put down her utensil at the same time. “Did you two actually miss me?”
“Yeah!”
With all the trouble she’d given them? Dumb kids... And yet, “It’s nice to see you, too. Now go on, you’d better sit down and eat.”
They heartily obeyed, and Mecora went back to enjoying her own breakfast. Soon, her mother joined them. It was quiet at the table, except for the smacking sounds and clacking of wood on wood the two boys made. It seemed there was nothing to say. Anything about the weather or events in town seemed so contrite.
But curiosity forced Mecora to try anyway. “Wasn’t there an election of elders recently?”
“Yes. Linna is the new elder.”
“No one got voted out.”
“Of course not.”
“No, of course not.” It would take something pretty awful to get an elder voted out, Mecora reflected.
“You were hoping for a more friendly environment to bring Spreak into,” her mother accused.
“The thought had crossed my mind. He’d like to live in a real house with a kitchen and a sleeping room, even if it isn’t really home.”
“Well, not this house. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you are.” Mecora could feel the anger rising.
“Well, I am! I’ve told you-”
Suddenly, the clank of metal on metal, a strange, sharp thunder, shouting, horns, a rhythmic thwunking and elfmen screaming made its way in from outside. They all went to the window, in time to see a flaming arrow rise over the platform and hit their door. Their door was aflame! Panic froze them.
And then Spreak was there. “Come on! You have to get out of here!”
“Spreak!” Mecora tore from the huddled group and went to hug him. But her family just stood there at the window.
“It’s your army, here to rescue you, isn’t it?” asked Mecora’s mother.
“No, it’s not. It’s a human force. And they’re going to kill everybody here if we don’t get out now!”
“And you expect me to trust you? You who twisted my daughter?”
A look of dark desperation crossed Spreak’s face, a look Mecora had never seen on him before. “Fine. Good luck.” He sang one, single, awful note, shattering the front wall. Then, he turned and went back to the hole in the back room wall...
...leaving Mecora to decide. With Spreak, she would be safer, she knew. And she also knew there would be no way to convince her mother. Another flaming arrow flew through the hole in the wall and hit the opposite wall. Their time was up; her mother ducked outside.
And she went to Spreak’s hole in the back.

From an adjacent tree, they watched the terrible scene below. The armies filled every bit of ground, trampling all the undergrowth, as well as their dead comrades. Fires burned in every part of town as Vle ran to and fro, trying to find safety. There wasn’t much to be found. Vle archers shot as many humans as they could, while human soldiers sought the archers to neutralize the overhead threat; and below human archers fired their flaming arrows.
“Those humans aren’t fighting fair! They can’t burn our village like that! The whole forest might burn down!”
“I once read that humans don’t have forests like ours. They cut them down a long time ago to make vast fields for growing grain.”
“How sad.”
“Well, their trees don’t get nearly as big, anyway.”
“It’s still sad. How can they live like that?”
“I imagine they wonder how we can live in the trees all the time.”
“Are you defending them to me?”
Spreak shrugged, and swallowed. “They’re on my side,” he replied quietly.
Hearing him use the word ‘my’ that way surprised her, but she said nothing. Instead, she tried to pick her mother out of the chaos below, but it was impossible.
There was a general movement toward the monastery, and she could see a crowd clamoring to be let onto the platform. As yet, the monastery was untouched by fire, perhaps because the Vle archers had never gotten there in the first place. So the crowd on the narrow stairway grew, then spilled across the connecting bridge.
Meanwhile, the battle moved on. The Vle archers lost their lives, and all the live combatants visible below were human. Most of the houses and shops visible were burned out, and the platforms were dangerous to walk on. Faintly, a human voice announced in halting Vle that all those on the stairs were prisoners of war and were to obey all further commands.
“Spreak, there’s got to be some way to save my mom!”
“I don’t think so.”
“Please?!”
“What would you have us do? Spring out of a hole and drag her away in plain sight of the guards? And you know as well as I do she won’t come with us anyway.”
It hurt, but Mecora had to admit he was right. “Well, let’s just get out of here, then.”
“To where?”
“I don’t care. Just away.”
Spreak nodded, and sang.