Wolfe spent a few seconds just admiring the view, then activated [Levitate] and brought himself up to the first layer of vine walkways that crisscrossed the sky overhead.
They had a gentle sway, but the netting of the sides and the planks under his feet felt sturdy and reassuring. Katerina flitted along beside him as he headed for the first of the houses and found that the furniture was the same basic items that they had in the Den before he had changed them.
"I don't know where everything is. Do you, or should we bring over a Witch?" Wolfe sighed.
Without someone who knew where all of the houses were located and what was in them, he would have to go room by room through the whole village or risk missing rooms that he didn't see properly with [Detect Hidden], and that was a lot of them since the wards on the trees made it harder to see inside.
"Oh, Cassie should be here somewhere. Right there, in the tower. Should we fly over? It's so good to see that someone here can fly." The Faerie giggled.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I don't see why not. But, you know that the witches could fly as well if they tried. They've got enough wind magic." Wolfe reminded her.
"They lack the mindset for it. They look like awkward ducklings unless they use a tree branch or broom as a focus to save their dignity." The Fae whispered.
"So that's the reason for the stereotype. I visualize myself having wings and having the spell hold me in an appropriate posture as I move." Wolfe explained.
"That's not a bad way of doing it. We tell the young Faeries to pose as they fly so that their legs aren't flailing all around while they try to work their wing muscles properly."
The image of a tiny Faerie with its legs swinging frantically as it managed to get its wings to lift them into the air for the first time was hilarious. It was like a little kid swimming for the first time, just flailing around until they found something that worked.
They landed on the large observation deck of the spire, where most of the Rank Two witches were still gathered, and Stephanie scrambled free of his arms to begin her exploration of this new place since Wolfe was going to be working and not paying attention to her anymore.
"I just need you to visualize all of the furniture for me. I will do them one item at a time, and we can transform them into something elegant." Wolfe explained to Cassie as soon as she noticed his arrival.
"Oh, that works. Let's start with the beds since they're the most important to everyone. We can do them the same as the ones in the Den to make it easy. They will fit with the theme in here since we used such light wood." She agreed, eager to get the finishing touches put on the city that they had worked so hard to build this morning.
Wolfe formed the array and then brought Cassie into the loop, letting her guide it to all of the destinations, changing every bed in the city at once. Then they did the dressers, the lone couch and the chairs, and Cassie was forced to admit that was all the furniture that they had put in the houses.
"It's a good start, and we don't want to clutter the place up before anyone starts to decorate or personalize their spaces. I think it's fine. The first one that I saw had a small kitchen, so we will need to distribute kitchenware as well unless we're going to keep doing the communal meals."
The witches all smiled at each other. "We thought of that. There is a huge restaurant, which doubles as the mess hall, not far from here. Everyone has gotten used to eating together, both in the army and afterward, and it's just easier if only one group has to keep track of food distribution.
But now that the units will have kitchens, they can snag the packs of leftovers from the kitchen staff and bring them home for late-night eats.
It will be a slow transition to a proper city since there are no other men and only a few children. It's just those of us who escaped the treatment camps and villages when the army attacked, and we're all used to military camp life, so we can take our time switching to a more normal family life."
Wolfe smirked, and Ella smacked him on the arm. "No offering to help the witches start the transition to Family life."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to. You know that I can feel your amusement through the link, and I felt your response to her words." Ella countered.
"Why don't we go check out the renovated rooms? We can make sure that we didn't miss anything, and then we can decide what we're going to do to fill these hundreds of extra spaces. It's a very nice little city, but there really aren't a lot of us." Wolfe explained.
"Oh, didn't the Fae tell you? There are more people coming. Once the Fae Forest appeared, it drew in a number of people that the Forest deemed suitable inhabitants to balance out the monsters in the woods, as well as the ones outside.
We don't know what we're going to get yet, but there should be some more people coming, but not too many for the space we have. It's part of the magic of the forest."
This was a rather strange place that they had created, but it seemed like it was optimized for the living conditions of everyone inside, and that was exactly what they needed right now, with so little to go on and no experience living through a whole year on their own.
"Well, hopefully, the forest picks people who are easy to get along with." Wolfe shrugged. If there was nothing to be done about it, he would have to see who showed up.
"The Forest always picks well. The Fae value harmony, so it should prioritize people who will help you all get along and operate smoothly." Katerina, the small witch, informed them on behalf of her Familiar, who had flown up into the trees.
Now that did sound promising. Wolfe was almost looking forward to meeting the new arrivals and learning what the Fae Forest thought that they needed.