“That’s why I love this place,” said Diamond. “Surrounded by life—beasts as well as trees—but the trees are the mothers and fathers of all. They shelter everybody, provide for everybody. Look down there, in that glen. Those are trees that have never been clear cut. There are some thousand-year trees there.”

“For this world, that’s really old,” said Enopp.

“The Indians used to walk among those trees. And really ancient creatures walked among the ancestors of those trees. This place was never a killing ground for trees. That means something to me.”

“You were in the Air Force,” said Eluik. “The Air Force drops bombs and blows things up.”

“Sometimes it’s a job that has to be done,” said Diamond. “But that doesn’t mean that a soldier doesn’t dream of finding a place that’s full of peace.”

Eluik thought about that. Full of peace. Kind of a backward way of looking at it. Eluik would have thought that peace was the absence of war. But maybe war is the absence of peace. Maybe when you leave a place alone, for all the creatures to live their lives, the place fills up with peace, and the peace spills over. Like a lake with a stream running out of it, so that people downstream can drink up all the peace they want, and be filled with it.

“You know, Westil might be full of magic,” said Eluik. “More than Mittlegard. But what neither world has very much of is this.”

“Trees?” asked Diamond.

“Plenty of trees in Westil,” said Enopp.

“Peace,” said Eluik. “No peace in either world. Except maybe in little islands like this.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’ve come here, isn’t it,” said Diamond. “Now come on inside, I know Annie will have all kinds of food for you. Regular food. Plain food. Bread and meat and cheese and fruits and vegetables. Nothing fancy but everything is good for you.”

“In Westil,” said Enopp, “that’s all anybody knows how to make.”

“Then you’ll feel right at home,” said Diamond. “Come on inside.”

Eluik and Enopp got their bags—the ones that Diamond didn’t grab first—and followed him up the porch stairs into the house.

Eluik took one glance back at the trees beyond the car and he thought maybe he caught a glimpse of somebody. No, not “somebody.” Hermia. Probably not his imagination. Probably she knew exactly where they were. Can’t be helped. But if anybody can damage the peace of this place, it’ll be her.