Chapter 2

The tree and the plateau provided for all of his basic needs, except for permanent companionship.

Nevertheless, the roads which joined the ring road that surrounded his tree were moderately well travelled when it wasn’t snowing, and sometimes he had more company than he wanted.

About ninety years before, to entice travellers to stay for a night or two, he spent one winter building the 12m wide paved circle around the tree that started 12m from the centre of the tree.

The tiled area was divided into six segments, each of a different base colour. They aligned with the fields between the six roads. Ricky had a lot of fun forming pictures of the wildlife found on the island using coloured tiles in each section.

In the northeast segment was a three-tiered dais. The top was 4m wide and 60cm off the ground. A 15cm thick silver looking metal ring that was 3m wide and flush with the top of the dais was in the centre of the dais. Two steps, each 20cm high and 40cm long, led to the ground.

Within the metal ring, was a mural of a star system done in mostly dark blue and white coloured tiles. Ricky often wondered where it was, as he couldn’t find it in the night sky.

His father had told him that the platform and the ring were a transportation portal and that the dais had been there a lot longer than this tree. He had thought that every two thousand years or so, the old tree died and a new one grew in its place.

His father and told him of the historical accounts that he had read in Spirit City. The histories said that this dais was believed to be over ten thousand years old, and so was the first roundabout that was laid here and the streets that went from it to the coasts. Ricky had since seen those accounts for himself.

The portal had been placed by the explorers from Keltria who first found this planet. They had lived on the island for several years to raise some children before they went back to their mission of exploring in the stars to find new worlds for the Keltrian races to live on.

The portal rings in each of the palaces had been built nearly five thousand years later when the settlement ships came. They had been very surprised to find the ring of roads on the island and the six deserted castles.

If you knew the spells and where another ring was, you could transport yourself between them. Ricky had fun laying his tiles around the dais and wasn’t really surprised that it aligned within the centre of his north-east segment.

Then there was shithouse, as Ricky called it.

Many a traveller was amused and relieved to find that towards the edge of the paved area in the northern segment was a 3m high, plus roof; brick shithouse.

Ricky’s shithouse was the only fully-enclosed building at the crossroads, and it was a testament to modern technology.

Quite a few people were shocked when they realised Ricky’s two, west-facing, 2m square rooms each had a water-flushed loo in it. Each room had a small sink, bars of soap and a hanging cloth for your hands and fresh, soft paper to wipe one’s arse with.

Attached to the back of the loos, were two shower rooms, each 2m wide by 4m long. The doors faced the east. They were relatively plain rooms as he had tiled the floors with sand coloured tiles and the walls in white ones.

However, Ricky knew the showers were very much appreciated. They even had hot water that never seemed to run out. In each shower room, a wooden bench seat was just inside the door and backed onto the outer wall. Hooks and rails for clothes and towels were located on the walls at the eastern end.

A sink and vanity with a full-length mirror beside it were on the inside wall opposite the seat. Within the shower cubicle was two independently operated shower roses on the west wall. One was at 250cm high and one at 150cm high.

Both the northern and southern walls had three glass louvre-style windows set high up off the ground for extra light and air. They were 150cm long and a 50cm high. Two were for the shower rooms and one for each of the loos. Crystal lights on the ceilings shone day and night in each room.

The wastewater from the building drained to an underground septic system that helped feed Ricky’s tree, the grass and flowers. A bit of magic made sure it never blocked up.

The feature on the north-western segment of the paved circle was the 250cm wide fire pit for sitting around. It was sunk about 30cm in the middle to contain the burning logs.

Around the depression were six, low set, 150cm long, low set, curved and carved log seats, with backrests. One seat sat near the perimeter of the paved circle, and the other five seats and the fire pit were on the paved area.

In the south-west section of the circle was a cooking area. It had two back to back, raised barbeques with two types of meshed grill tops and a large flat plate in the centre.

On either side of the two barbeques were 120cm square-topped tables. One set was 85cm high for the taller races, and the other set was 60cm high for the shorter ones.

A 4m wide, 5m long and 3m high cover made from his tree and its leaves, and slanted away from the tree, protected the cooking area. Ricky erected the cover when he got hit by a falling beernut.

Three picnic sets of a table with attached bench seats, each of a different height, were arranged in the area between the cooking shelter and the tree. Ricky had painted each of them a bright colour and felt they provided a cheerful look.

On the southern end of the paving and central of its segment, was a 150cm wide well. A 40cm high and wide wall made of split rocks surrounded the wellhead. On the well-wall was mounted a 250cm high cross-arm. Attached to one side of it was a geared winch-winder.

The rope that fed through the pullies to the bucket was always in good repair, as was the superbly made wooden bucket. Many people who were not magically gifted were surprised that the water level in the well never fell below the level of the ground outside the well-wall. The water was also sweet to drink and always cold and refreshing.

The south-east sector had a second cover that was the same size as the cooking shelter. Under it, cords of firewood were stacked on the paving. Either side of the stack of wood were two, wide, half-barrels. One set was kept full of edible beer-nuts that visitors could help themselves to.

The second set of half-barrels were full of kindling and smaller slivers of firewood for the grills and the fire pit. Ricky personally kept the woodpiles stacked, and the barrels full for his visitors. It kept his grass free of sticks and dropped branches and the old beernuts that made good coals for cooking.

Many a visitor had been more than delighted with the setup they found.

Ricky’s tree grew in a unique place.

First off, it grew on an island called Zeta. Zeta was one of the twenty named islands of the Tear Islands group, on the planet Tara. Its centre was approximately thirty-eight degrees north of the equator. The 6m wide ring-road that surrounded the acre of land that his tree was on was flat and well maintained.

The round road was paved in pale-grey, crushed rocks that were bound together and to the hard-packed earth. They were also spelled to keep their form come rain, shine or tempest. Feeding into and out of the ring road were six, 5m wide roads.

These roads were dressed the same as the ring-road for just over 100km from his tree as far as a dragon can fly. Their exact length depended on undulations of the land and if they had to zig-zag the hillsides on their way down to the flatter lands.

The sections of the roads that were in Ricky’s province even had a dotted white line down the middle to split the road into two lanes. The line even glowed in the dark. The roads didn’t all remain the 5m in width or in the same condition outside of the 100km circular central zone of the island that Ricky owned.