<div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/5b/Temple_of_casta.jpg)</div><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/a/ad/Melodymug.jpg)</div><br/><strong>The Beauty of Nature</strong><br/><em>Mid-morning </em><br/>An hour from Amberdale's furthest farms, where the wilds enveloped the paths and abandoned barns became invisible in the high grasses and summer trees, Sister Melody arrived on the wide steps of the Temple of Casta and peered in through the wide open threshold. Steamy humid air gust from the hot spring baths and massage rooms of the house of goddess of healing and pleasure, but today there were no priests here save for her. There didn't seem to be any adventurers here in answer to her summons, either, but it was still early. It had been a long walk. She could wait.<br/><br/>If there was any risk of overlooking Sister Melody in the mist of the temple, her white halo served as a beacon. Quiet as a mouse the priestess slipped into a vaulted side chamber and disrobed over the mosaic tiles. A wild robin fluttered through the chamber as she folded her modest habit into one of the alcoves, and stepped out into the open air public baths. Birdsong from the tangled forest beyond the temple echoed through its pillared gallery, a taste of the wild before one completely left Amberdale behind. Sister Melody waded down the steps and into the heated water to relax.<br/><br/>Somewhere beyond the old stone of the house of healing and pleasure, in the twilight of sinister broad-leafed trees, there was a Life Tree ever blooming. It had been found and lost again throughout the seasons, a fairy tale of the dark woods hidden away by mischievous wardens or swallowed whole by the malevolent spirits of the forest. The sacred site of its growth, a natural ward against monsters, was the reason the Temple of Casta still stood here unmolested. All that was needed were a few pairs of eyes, a few pairs of boots to forge a new path, a strong arm to tap its sap, and some common sense. Sister Melody stretched out her toes and commended herself on her good plan.