Star Wolves (The Tribes of Yggdrasil Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

except for our cryptographer, Elnora Kollman, who's already here,” Hal explained.
    “Very well then, why don’t I give you a short tour of Llangernyw?” Saeran offered.
    “That would be lovely,” Nila said..
    “Please, if you’ll follow me.” Saeran gestured, turned, and moved down one of the walking paths, her pea green gown flowing gently like tall grass in a meadow.
    “Llangernyw is stunning,” Hal said, “I can’t believe how well integrated your structures are with the environment. In fact, we’re trying very hard to achieve something similar on New Midgard; not quite on this scale of course, but building with our natural world in mind.”
    Saeran smiled. “I think that is a noble sentiment, but Llangernyw was not built as such—it was grown. Everything you see around you is living and breathing. We are truly living in symbiosis with the trees and plants. You will notice each of the ywen trees in Llangernyw is near the size of your skyscrapers, such as those in New York city.”
    Hal thought it surprising that she would reference an Earth city.
    Saeran raised her eyebrows, “You look shocked? I’ve been to New York city. But between the increased gravity on Earth and the pollution in New York, I can’t say I was enamored with it on my visit, but I know you Midgardians are trying—with respect to pollution and living more symbiotically, that is.”
    Hal nodded. “Fair enough. I’m not much for cities myself.” He watched hundreds of Alfar quietly going about their business, moving in and out of tree trunks, and passing above them on large branches- which seemed to function as roads.
    There was another marked difference between this city and those on Earth—the lack of noise. Hal heard birds singing, the buzz of small insects, the rustle of leaves in the wind, and quiet voices; there were no honking horns, no sounds of construction, no people shouting or otherwise making a racket. The same could be said about New Midgard, but Alfheim was home to billions, like Earth. New Midgard was quiet in large part because the population density was extremely low, and there was a lack of heavy industry; being a new colony, it was still primarily an agricultural entity.
    Another contrast was in the general adornment of everything. Every rail, building frontage etcetera, was intricately carved. But as he took a closer look, he realized they were not carvings at all, they were in fact patterns of growth. Saeran explained this as a function of their science of arbortecture. Plant material could be coerced to grow in myriad patterns. Some wore simple designs, others appeared to tell epic tales of battles, pictures of the gods, goddesses, and land spirits, acts of creation and other significant moments in their history.
    Hal chocked this adornment up to the fact the Alfar lived so much longer than humans—homo sapiens were in a constant rush to get things done, but the Alfar … they seemed to be stopping to smell the flowers, as it were.
    He remembered pictures of objects his ancestors had made a thousand years before. They were similarly adorned. Six-hundred light-years and a thousand years in time, and they had so much in common. It warmed Hal to think of these very distant cousins. Meeting the Alfar was probably the greatest blessing the gods had bestowed upon his race.
    Another curiosity were the parallels in design themes. Here the Alfar seemed to employ themes which would be familiar to Celts and ancient Scandinavians. “Saeran, I notice we seem to have many similarities in the way we adorn things. Many pillars on your buildings for example have carved intertwining beasts; this is a strong motif in Old-Earth Celtic society. How is it that six-hundred light-years and thousands of years apart there is such similarity?” he asked.
    “Excellent question. As you know, the gods seeded both our worlds, among others. That seeding included certain pre-dispositions for patterns of thought, behavior and culture, as