Treehouse (Chapter 3)

Wading across the tranquil stream, we continued through the woods in silence, just enjoying the air and nature. There was no place like this where I lived. Allthat there was were buildings and more building. Maybe occasionally a plant or two, but essentially, just cold, hard buildings.
"So... You really from the future?"
"It would seem so..."
"What's it like in the future?"
"No woods like this... All buildings... Cold, hard buildings..."
"What?! No lovely green trees? No flittering butterflies, no soaring birds? No flowers?!"
"There's an occasional plant here and there for decoration purposes... We do have some animals that are kept for research and a few birds in the wild that managed to survive without trees."
"How do you survive in such a cold world?"
"Now that I'm here, I'm wondering that myself..."
Khanna jerked to a halt and I crashed into her, not able to stop fast enough.
"What is it?" I whined, rubbing bruises from the collision.
"It's our house." I looked in front to see a large tree.
"It's a tree..." I muttered under my breath. She heard anyway.
"No, silly! Look up!" Straining my neck, I searched higher. My eyes widened as a giant complex system of ladders, platforms, and roofs came into view They covered several tree, the leaves cleverly hiding all of the structures behind them. Unless you looked carefully, it looked like a normal clump of trees.
"Wow..." I managed to say, jaw dropping open. Looking around, I found no way of getting up.
"Uh... How exactly are we supposed to-" I started to ask.
"To get in?" she interrupted. "Well, normally Faalan brings us up using his mind powers, but since we ditched him earlier.... We'll use my powers." I tensed, remembering my past experience with her powers.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine!" she insisted, seeing my worried expression.
"If you say so..." I squeaked, throat closing up in my nervousness. Khanna's eyes closed in concentration and her mouth turned into a thin
line. Holding up a hand, a glowing portal appeared. But it was a brilliant shade of green.
"Green?" I whispered. The portal that had taken me here had been blue. Perhaps the color had something to do with it.
"Okay, let's go!" Khanna chirped merrily, yanking my hand and jumping
into the portal.
"But, I-" starting to protest. My voice was cut off as I fell forward and my mouth opened in a soundless scream. Swirls of emerald
surrounded both Khanna and me. Before I had time to recover, I was thrust forward once again, landing on top of Khanna.
"Owie...." Khanna whined underneath me.
"Well, you fell on me last time, so it's only fair, right?" I retorted, wincing at my scraped knees.
"True... Well, let's get going!" Once again, she began to drag me around, taking me from room to room. I desperately tried to remember
all the different ladders and rooms, but to no avail. There was just too much to remember.
"What's your gift, Fala?" Khanna asked suddenly as she whipped around a corner.
"Erm...." I didn't know what to say.
"You are of age, right?"
"Yeah, I'm of age. I just turned 17."
"Then....?"
"Well, the truth is, I don't really know my gift."
"No worries, you'll find it soon enough, right?" I stopped abruptly. She was the only one who had taken the news without turning away in disgust. That is, other than Tahi. Khanna just continued on, oblivious of the fact that I stopped, and when I realized that she was going farther and farther away, I ran after her, trying to keep up.
Not feeling like it was the right time to ask why she wasn't repulsed by me, I followed her silently as she showed me all the various rooms.

AN: Chapter three is...not very interesting. This is mostly a transition chapter that really isn't all that important.