The tree had always been there,older than the house, older than the road, older than anyone who still remembered how it began. Its branches stretched wide, holding not just leaves of gold and amber, but entire worlds tucked into its arms. Mara found it by accident. She had wandered too far from the path, chasing after a squirlle. When she pushed past the curtain of low-hanging branches, she froze. Built into the tree’s massive trunk were tiny rooms and winding platforms, each one alive with movement. Lanterns glowed warmly. Miniature doors opened and closed. And everywhere—people, no taller than her hand, living their lives as if the tree were a city. A spiral staircase wrapped around the trunk, and before she could second-guess herself, Mara stepped onto it. The wood felt warm beneath her feet, like it recognized her. As she climbed, she passed a tiny bakery where the smell of cinnamon drifted upward, a music room where soft melodies spilled into the air, and a library tucked into a hollow, its shelves carved directly into the living wood. The people noticed her, but none seemed afraid. Instead, they smiled, nodding as though her arrival had been expected. At the heart of the tree, she found a wide platform shaped like a nest. A woman stood there, her silver hair woven with leaves, her eyes reflecting the same golden light as the branches. “You found us,” the woman said gently. “I didn’t mean to,” Mara replied. “Few do. Fewer still understand what they’re seeing.” Mara looked around the  tiny homes, the glowing lanterns, the quiet harmony of it all. “It feels… alive.” The woman smiled. “It is. This tree remembers every story ever told beneath it. And sometimes, it makes new ones.” A breeze stirred the leaves, and for a moment, Mara thought she heard whispers laughter, songs, fragments of lives layered over one another. “Can I stay?” she asked, surprising herself. The woman tilted her head. “For a while. But the tree doesn’t keep anyone forever. It only reminds them how to see.” When Mara finally climbed back down, the forest looked different. The light seemed warmer, the air fuller, as if the world itself held hidden rooms she had never noticed before. And though she returned many times, she never again found the tree by accident.She had to believe in it first.