This was a lovely place, brick oddities were built here and there, piping lovely smells of food, or industry. Led by Gretta, he wondered why he was not taking a bath in her, tree. "Isn't there a bath in your house?" , she laughed "Why, that would be enormous!" " Hot water, small tub, not a big deal actually" he lightly stated. She stopped and looked up at him. "You are enormous!"
Ah, yes, he wasn't four feet tall. She continued, " Think of it, trying modern plumbing in my tree, no thaaank yooou. I am old, grouchy, and like my tree, old and out of date." He agreed "I do think it is really a nice tree. Nicest one I have ever seen." His thoughts turned serious as he saw children playing in the dusty road. "Have you seen or heard of any of my kind coming here, recently?" Raising a bushy eyebrow, "The news travels slow here, but we would get word in a few weeks or days." Days. Weeks. Seconds counted, what if Elaine survived, was she frightened? Alive? Dead? Injured? "There was another of my kind, a woman, reddish blond, with blue eyes. She is smaller than me. I need to find her, she came here before me, she may be hurt. I need to help her!" Gretta saw the hurt in his eyes and desperation, " I can prepare a meal, and rations after your bath, but my hospitality cannot find her, it may be that she iiiis somewhere close by."
The emotions swam thick like a great welling pressure. Never faltering, he maintained a calm, placid, exterior. They had arrived. It looked like a giant tower, with waterfalls that spilled onto balconies, then a lake, much like a moat, collected the water below. "A steam vent is at the bottom center tower, it acts like a constant geyser pushing the water upwards. Steam operates the elevator shafts, and devices control the pressure. Those whoo arrrr the talent of the steam, understand it more than I. All I know is, it does cost money, and I am doing you a great favor, Braxton."
A brass elevator lift arrived as the master of the controls, a small rock with many eyes and two limbs, opened the brass gate for him to walk onto it. Gretta waved, it shot up like a blast! Twenty some odd floors up, a slender featureless creature, pink and hairless handed him the equivalent of soap and a towel. It spoke in smooth and watery tones "Enjoy your bath sir." He undressed and opened the outer door. Walking only a few steps his opened door it looked the same as below, a balcony, only it was a large steaming tub. It had varied heights of seats, like a giant hot tub, and all though there was water spilling from above to below the current was somehow regulated by drains that went into the inside of the tub. The view was spectacular. He could see the village off in the distance, and only the side of Gretta's tree much closer. as he looked, he realised, there were no mountains he could see, only clouds, and lots of sky. and the land disappeared into the clouds, giving no visible definition of anything.
He finished quickly bathing, and realised he had no clothing that was clean now as he stepped out. To his astonishment, his clothes hung, pressed and perfectly clean. "That was fast. How on earth, did all that filth and grime get out?" Shrugging the miracle of sudden stain removal off he, hurried out and back to Gretta's.
Gretta's home was piping the aroma of delectable treats and savory eats. Her grandson who had helped him earlier inside when he first met them was scurrying grabbing ingredients dumping this and that into each pot. He sat and talked with both for hours trying to pry more information that may be useful in finding Elaine. There were maps, which to his dismay were expensive, and only one accurate mapmaker existed that they knew of. He found out that Gretta was indeed retired, and was somewhat happy for the reprieve of boredom by helping a strange creature out. She and her grandson were bakers, and sold their wares to the next village and a much larger metropolis as well.
"Grandmother is getting older, and the trip is harder, but our next sale is due soon." Braxton had not earned the trust that they had given him by offering so much. "May I help? It is all I can do. After I reach the city of Muldane, we can part ways, I could find work, and search for Elaine."
Gretta looked sadly at Braxton. " We could see you are lost, and saw your impossible circumstance from whence you came. But others may see you as a threat or, worse a Terron the Oppressor. "So there are others who have appeared like me?". she shook her head, "No humans, just two others with great powers, Legendary Ones, but only Terron remains."

"What happened to the other?" he persisted. "She fought him in a great battle, that took most of my kin to their grave. Her powers were over the fire itself, engulfing Terron's minion's. Yet, his army out numbered hers, and my kinsman enslaved then disappeared to make more of his despicable army. Terron has not emerged from his kingdom for two hundred years since the battle, and Rainement the one of Fire was said to have perished in the battle. None have seen or heard of her since." It sounded like a fairy tale. "Two hundred years, of course you wouldn't hear from her, she would be dead!" Gretta chuckled, "I only know what I have read in the historians lodges, and the great schools of my youth. To this day my kinsmen fear Terrons realm, and no army large or small has ever succeeded in infiltrating his country. They have met with enslavement or death." The idea of such barbaric behaviour baffled him. "How could a tyrant keep such loyalty?" A slight pause as she sipped her tea, " He is three thousand years old by some accounts, and made up entirely of the most impenetrable metal. I have questioned the loyalty part myself, but he rules by fear and strange, horrific powers." This was a dream, some twisted part of a head concussion, he told himself. How could even in another dimension could there be such a thing. "Legendary Ones", thousands of years old. He thanked Gretta for the food and conversation. Slipping outside he looked at the nighttime sky, a billion stars, and not one constellation her recognized. Still it was beautiful, inky black with jewels that glittered. Jewels.... her ring! In the blackness his eyes adjusted, was her ring buried in there? In that huge crater? He held out against hope, if she was alive like him, he would have to ask. as crazy as it seemed! He looked, and he saw it..... no, that was too easy, no, it was the ring! It glittered with a strange radiance, one more magical it seemed. This was the sign, he was not forsaken after all.