Picture a place, a steep escarpment, created where the western tectonic plate slides under the central tectonic plate of the giant super continent of O'juin, forms a cliff nearly two rhi high in many places and stretches in a rough "L" shape for nearly 1,600 rhi.* The Great Wall's sheer sides are considered by the H'lomeh to be unclimbable. Now picture the sharp angular features of a mountain range as tall as the Himalayas and set it on top of the Great Wall. Over 600 rhi wide, this range stretches the entire length of the Great Wall in a northwest to southeast direction. Most of the passes through the range are so high in elevation that breathing is not possible. Welcome to the Ch'ri-lanquah-el, the "High Wilderness," the crown of the Great Wall, the mountainous roof of the entire planet. In the first book of my B'ha'an novel manuscript, Sha'a'an, a H'lomeh girl, and Newman, a human man, are pursued to the base of the Great Wall by their enemy, the ghostly Bhar-kar-d'esh, where they are trapped. Having no other option, the pair attempts to scale the sheer cliffs and, with a little help from the Power-box in their possession, they successfully reach the top of the cliff. Until that moment, their enemy had always been at their backs; now as they stare at row upon row of high ranges in front of them, they realize that their enemy has changed; it has become the terrain itself. Travel is only possible in the warm months and winter lasts for ten of the sixteen nantah in the H'lomeh calendar. The pair will spend two winterings just waiting to begin anew their eastward quest to reach the H'lomeh New Lands. Although both will chafe at the endless delay, it would prove to be time well spent. Newman will begin to better assimilate H'lomeh ways and customs and learn to be comfortable with them. He is--in a sense--becoming H'lomeh. Sha'a'an also now has the time to teach him the ways of the trail and how to hunt and fend for himself in the wilderness. They are also becoming very fond of each other, although neither will admit it. Love is quietly entering each of their hearts. Many years later, Sha'a'an described the evolution of their relationship in those first years: "When I first knew him, his ways and looks repelled me....But I was still fairly young and intolerant then, as only the young can be. Maybe, if there'd been a couple of other H'lomeh men with us, the differences might've remained a problem between us. With only the two of us, Newman became in my mind simply a man; even as I was turning into a woman....If there'd been others I might've always seen him only as an alien man--or perhaps just as an alien. "Truth, Rey'ch'el? I didn't give Newman my love. He earned every bit of it. In the end, I couldn't not love him." __________________________ * A H'lomeh measure of distance roughly four-fifths of a mile; specifically, 0.759 of a mile. ********************** CREDITS: Setting: Sky, terrains, and snow and rock textures is a Bryce Companion File, "Majestic Mountains by estavez (DAZ). Mosspines: sea plants by 3D plants.com. Figure: Victoria3 by DAZ.