“Eva Nine, come here! You must see this.” Rovender loped ahead from the shadow of heavy growth that they were traveling through and into a sunlit field of waist-deep bracken. As Eva neared, she found her guide standing in front of a thick knobby spire that towered high above him.

“This part looks like the holos I’ve seen of pineapples,” Eva said, pointing to the perfect pattern of nodules at the the base of the spire.

“No, no, Eva. This is a signpost. A portent,” Rovender said as he walked around it and pointed to several more looming nearby. “Should you come across these, be wary.”

“A sign for what?” Eva craned her neck up to see the blunt tip of the spire.

“Who put it there?” Muthr asked as she joined them and inspected the towering spire. Eva could see that the signpost was more than four times the height of the robot.

“We are at the edge of the forest’s heart,” Rovender whispered, kneeling down next to the base. “See here, Eva Nine? The eyes all look in toward the center. Toward the heart.”

Eva leaned down next to where Rovender was indicating. She saw dark shiny round growths on the tips of the nodules.

“Those?” She peered at them. “Those are eyes?”

“Trust me,” Rovender said. He stood, pointing in the direction that the eyes appeared to be staring. It was into a tight copse of enormous interwoven trees. Their canopy was so dense that Eva saw nothing beyond their green-hued veil. Rovender spoke in a hushed tone. “It is told in my clan that you do not enter there unless you are pure of spirit.”

“But who put the signs here?” Muthr asked again.

“The forest did,” Rovender replied. “Now, let us continue.”

“Hold on a second.” Eva furrowed her brow. “You mean the trees did it? Or perhaps some large creature.”

“No, Eva, not the trees and not another creature,” Rovender replied.

“Well, that doesn’t make sense. So what do you mean by saying that the forest put it there?” Eva asked.

Rovender continued across the field of bracken. “I mean exactly what I say: The forest has placed warnings to let you know you are to be careful, to be considerate, while journeying through it. Do you understand?”

“Not really.” Eva stopped, and looked at the trees surrounding her. Heavy clouds, dirty with rain, rolled overhead. “I am still confused. How can a forest do anything? I mean, a forest is just land with a bunch of trees growing on top of it.”

“Agreed,” Muthr said.