They entered Miri Town through its southern gate, and the settlement swallowed them whole.
Where New Whisperfield had been a human city with human rhythms, Miri Town hit the senses from every direction at once.
A dwarven smith's forge sat beside an elven herbalist's shop, the clang of hammer on steel mixing with the scent of dried lavender.
Trees grew through the upper floors of buildings where no human architect would have left the gap, and staircases descended into underground passages that glowed faintly with embedded quartz.
"I can't believe my eyes..." Alexios whispered, struggling to process what he was seeing.
A dwarven woman carried crates alongside a human man, arguing about stacking order.
An elven girl sold woven bracelets from a stall while a beastkin boy swept the space beside her.
A human mother called her children in for dinner from a doorway, and two of the three kids who came running had pointed ears.
"Yes, mom!!"
