First Steps
Warning: There's a slightly disturbing scene at the end of the chapter, as always, just skip from the first ***** to the next *****.
[You've been working me like a machine, Silane.] Kothar wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around at the massive cavern he had created within the trunk of the willow.
[You'll thank me for the maze when you run into something nasty out there.] Silane said smugly, before even starting on any significant construction, she had made Kothar construct a complicated maze at the entrance, for safety's sake.
The cavern that Kothar had painstakingly carved out was mostly dark, only illuminated by the ball of lightning floating above Kothar and the glow of his plasma blade as he carved away chunks of wood.
From the outside, one might notice a tiny hole a short distance up the trunk of the willow, with a long willow branch hanging down from it, and a pile of tiny splinters outside the hole.