They will trade metal tools and jewelry for the local coins, which can later be exchanged for other things. A clever system.

Yup. And if they tell the merchants how long they intend to stay, their things will be held for them until then, and they can trade the remaining coins back for some of them, or for things that other travelers left behind if they'd prefer that. Or keep the coins as souvenirs; these coins are metal, so they might be accepted elsewhere, but they shouldn't assume that they will, or that they'll have the same value.

That done, Nidela leads the way to the lift, and shortly thereafter they're in the city proper. There's a map; where would they like to go first?

The plan is to try to speak to someone with the authority to call off the genocides.

Well, that's going to be either the home tree, if they want to try to see the queen, or the meditation gardens, if they want to try the druid first. Up to them; the skill she's contributing here is 'can read the local language', not 'good at planning'.

Druid first.

She works out a route and sets off.

The trade district, nearest the city entrance, is bustling with people, but she leads them clear of it pretty quickly. The commercial area surrounding it is nearly as crowded, but even quicker to pass through; a small elevator that wasn't shown on the map brings them up to the farming level, where there's more sunbeams and fewer elves, though these are are rather more inclined to stare.

She presses on, occasionally looking down to the lower levels to check their progress against the bridges marked on the map, and eventually finds them another elevator to descend on, letting out in a sleepy little residential district. Another few minutes, during which they pass by a class of little elves being taught about plant identification, and they reach the gardens, a particularly lushly planted collection of platforms with plenty of benches and cushions to sit on and meditate.

She leads them up half-a-story to a large platform where a group of elves is being led through a guided meditation on what it's like to be a hawk; it's not laughably wrong. We can talk to the acolyte when they're done, she tells her companions.

Thank you.

And they listen attentively and wait for them to be done.

The meditation continues for another ten minutes, and then the acolyte leading it announces the meditation schedule for the rest of the day and dismisses the group. A few of the elves hang around to chat and surreptitiously watch the newcomers; the rest go about their business, and when they're gone the acolyte comes over to talk to them.

"Hello, visitors, welcome to the gardens of Queen's Grove. Can I help you with anything?"

"We would like to learn more about the teachings of your people. We are travellers from Valinor, far in the west, where the gods live, and were overjoyed to learn their light and teachings were known so far away."

...okay.

"Well, you're welcome to enjoy the gardens and come to any of the meditation sessions you'd like - there's one every hour until sunset -  and I can recommend a few classes if you'd like to sit in on those - " the ones open to the general public, of course.

"We want to talk to all the animals first, make sure there's nothing about their needs that has been missed because you can't talk to animals. We'll consider classes once that's fixed."

...wait, what?

"That can probably be arranged." He doesn't know what's going on but if that's true he definitely doesn't want to argue with them. "I'll need to discuss it with my superiors," and probably half a dozen other people, there's his day taken over. "Do you have a place to stay in the city?"

"Not yet."

He nods. "We have some space set aside for visiting acolytes; I'll show you to it."

He leads them to a group of seven platforms: four bedrooms with two beds and two large cushions suitable for most animal companions in each, a small kitchen (the appliances are magical, but Nidela knows how to use them), a meditation space, and a large common room. Each of the platforms has a canopy in green silk, and the bedrooms have matching curtains embroidered with vines and flowers that can be drawn for privacy. "I'll have dinner brought to you here; do you have any requests?"

They do not. They compliment the rooms.

He accepts the compliment gracefully and leaves.

Nidela picks a room and a bed and flops on it.

Everything okay?

Cities. Ugh.

I'll be fine.

Agreed, he says.

I'm going to chill for a while.

I do want to check the library while we're here, most of the stuff about unicorn care is probably the same for horses, I might be able to find out if there's anything better to do for the injured ones. Not now, though.

Good idea. At some point, yeah.

Yeah.

You guys can go walk around if you want, I don't think they're going to be ready for us anytime soon. I'm about done for the day, though.

So they walk around. It's a pretty city.

It's a very pretty city. The elves stare at them, but mostly don't approach them, though once or twice a small child comes up and asks them a few questions before being called away by a parent. Many elves have animal companions with them, and some of those are similarly curious, but most of them are well trained to stay with their owners, and the owners of the remaining ones all keep a close enough eye on them to stop them from going too far.

After a little while, they find themselves in another shopping district, less impressive than the one near the city gates; there are instruments and pet supplies and food and clothing and hand tools and a tiny little shop with writing supplies and decorative plants and some not-very-impressive art and jewelry in wood and ceramic and glass.

They won't buy things unless they're legitimately pretty, but they can at least muster effusive compliments. And sing.