The Tangleholt
A sheltered forest preserving impressions of villages erased from the tax rolls.
The wood grows in the lee of the central ridges around Oakdell. Fallen trunks remain in place because a cut cross-section can destroy years of impressions before a rootspeaker hears them. This practice makes the forest slow to traverse and difficult to patrol.
The Rooted Witness maintains paths named for the dead villages whose seedlings still grow in the capital. At the Tangleholt Hearing, a tree contradicted the official account of the first transfer. It also misremembered the color of the soldiers' coats. The custodians teach that a living witness deserves protection without being mistaken for an infallible record.
A living tree contradicted part of the official history, while also getting an ordinary detail wrong.
A sheltered capital keeping seedlings alive for forests that exist only in memory.
An immense cold interior whose rulers sell the idea of a green kingdom that no longer exists.
The eastern drainage whose herb scent warns boatmen of a dangerous thaw.
Umarwald’s timber route and the northern measure of an unequal bargain.
An eastern wall of ridges with a road older than the ice above it.