Superstition's Garden

You hear something small chitter busily at you, then scamper away. Water splashes merrily in a tiny waterfall near you, and there is the soft, calm peeping of tiny, hidden creatures nearby. The air smells fresh and sweet...

This circular room is glowingly lit from the slightly greenish ceiling that arcs about fifty feet above. The air is as warm and lush as a jungle, alive with the scent of flowers and jam-packed with verdant foliage. Sound is muted here by the close, abundant growth... emerald moss covers the path with a soft, silent surface, and nestles around slate-gray rocks that provide stepping stones across a chuckling little stream. The stream ripples and winds on its own journey to who knows where, with small, splashing waterfalls and gleaming, silvery trails.

The nearby bushes rustle peacefully in a slight breeze. Zalitha smiles quietly, as a slender, columnar pseudopod raises a brimming goblet of honey mead to her. She takes it with delicate fingers, and sips lightly, regarding you over the rim. Insects chirp with peaceful regularity nearby... a large butterfly with jeweled wings flutters near you. It alights on a flower for a moment, its iridescent wings beating softly, then flits suddenly off into the foliage.

Glowing ferns flourish over the stream and abundant bushes nod nearby. Opulent trees of varying heights, heavy with lustrous fruit, spread their branches in an arch that frequently completely covers the trail, creating a gleaming, living tunnel. There are brilliant, sweet-smelling flowers in a bewildering array of opulent colors... they grow in vivid profusion, bursting copiously from every horizontal or vertical surface not claimed by other undergrowth. Petals of delicate shades drift on the slight breeze, or drift gently along the shining silver surface of the stream.

The little silver stream chuckles softly to itself, and the path seems to undulate slightly, just for a second... or did you imagine it? A jewel-bright hummingbeetle whirrs swiftly into view. It hovers and regards you, antennae waving and its tiny, beating wings a blur, then zooms busily out of sight.

The little path winds about sinuously, up and down, back and forth, giving one the illusion of being completely alone here... occasionally it opens onto mossy private nooks or flowery little bowers shaded by glowing ferns and the drooping, heavy boughs of small, stately trees. Through the lush foliage you can catch glimpses of the intensely radiant ceiling high above. The twisting little path looks like antique-gold brick, with the lush grass a vivid emerald foil. The dancing little stream, when it can be seen, sparkles like beaten silver. You see shining foliage and ripely glowing fruit thick on the clustered bushes and heavy, verdant trees. Off to your left a rainbow of flowers dazzles the senses.

The ceiling shimmers slightly, and for a moment pure colors gleam high above you, like a stained-glass window. A woman is humming softly to herself nearby... a song that is hauntingly and longingly familiar, although you can't quite place it...