"Do you remember this?" the bird asks as it drops me on a large balcony.
Actually, it's probably a flat roof given how big it is. Whatever. I'm just grateful it has walls that come to chest height around it. What I can see over the top of those brown walls gives me vertigo as it is.
"No," I say. "I'm sure I'd remember this if I'd seen it before."
It lands on one of those walls. I feel an urge to push. I think it comes from the same place as the voice that usually says, "jump!"
It shakes its head at me sadly. I didn't know birds could do that. "You were here... oh, two months ago. With an elf guide you've since lost. You were looking for a particular stone circle."
"Stone circle?"
"Did you find it?"
I open and close my mouth a few times before I go with, "… No?"
It nods with satisfaction. "I said I've never seen it and I can see all the world from here. Even if I can't see it from right here, I can see everything on the cams in the command room."
"All the world?" I ask.
I would also like to question cameras and command rooms but one step at a time.
The bird steps off the wall onto the expensively paved floor. Mid-step, it becomes a tall woman with sharp features.
"Take a look," she says, gesturing behind her. "Enjoy the view."
I swallow but do as she suggests. The view is not what I expect. I can't see anything that looks like the ground we just left. The ground is... somewhere below lots of cloud and distance haze. The only thing that makes any sense is the sight of the rough brown wall dropping down all the way into what ever that is below. To one side it branches out weirdly and I can see windows and walls of glass like the one behind me and I wonder what kind of magical person lives in those.
"This is the penthouse apartment," the woman says as if she can read my mind. "They just think they have as good a view as I do. Although it isn't as good as my last place." She sighs. "I miss that place. So. If you've given up on the stone circle, how did you end up in the World Below?"
I shrug. I have no idea.
"What were you looking for?" she asks patiently.
If she were a little closer and a little less inclined to turning into a large bird, I could strangle her.
"I think," I say. "I think I was looking for a squirrel."
She freezes. I'm not sure whether that's anger or fear. "Who told you about the squirrel?"
I shrug. That's another one I don't know, along with what's so special about a squirrel.