Grim stood on the balcony of his guest quarters, marveling at how the city seemed to breathe with life.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Ruxi's voice came from behind him.
He turned to find her approaching with two steaming cups of something that smelled like jasmine mixed with starlight—if starlight could have a scent.
"It's unlike anything in human lands," Grim admitted, accepting the offered cup. "The architecture alone challenges everything I thought I knew about engineering and construction."
"That's because it's not truly constructed in the way humans build," Ruxi explained, settling beside him at the balcony's edge. "Our buildings are grown—shaped through generations of magical cultivation and guided evolution. They're as much living entities as they are structures."
"Living entities?"
"In a sense," she confirmed. "They respond to the needs and emotions of their inhabitants, adapt to changing seasons and circumstances, even develop their own subtle personalities over time."
