[Dictated]

[treeshepherd]

  [There is a sound halfway between the creak of ancient wood and a sigh.]

Hrooom.

The trees are young, here.  They sing to me, but they do not know much of this world.  Hoom, they remind me of groves I knew long ago.  Ah, the willows of Tasarinan in the Spring.  They were lovely when I walked among them.

Hm, but this is no time for an old Ent's memories.  Come.  Tell me what news you have of this world.

Comments

[hulloeverything]

Ents? I'm afraid I haven't heard of Ents, Entish or not.

[He pauses] Might I ask how long you've been in this world?

[treeshepherd]

An Ent is what I am.

Hrrrm, not long. Not long at all.

[hulloeverything]

And a Time Lord is what I am. Now that we've got that all sorted I'd love to meet you face to face. Where are you?

Oh, and since you sound like you've newly arrived here. Welcome to Paradisa. You've been taken from your own world and plopped here at this castle and the surrounding country, though we've yet to discover just how widespread it is. Not to worry, though, everything's provided and things are relatively calm around here at the moment.

[treeshepherd]

In the forest, I would say. Not my forest. But it is a forest, although I do not know what name they call it by here.

Hrrruum, very inconvenient I must say.

[hulloeverything]

The name? The name, my Ent friend, is Paradisa. Allow me to welcome you properly.

[Feeling particularly lazy at the moment, this one decides to take a shortcut. There's a whirring noise. A mysterious wind kicks up and a blue box slowly materializes a short distance away. This one pokes his head out]

Hullo?

[treeshepherd]

[Treebeard bends over in a smooth motion, like a branch bending in the wind.]

That, I will say, is not a thing that I have seen in all my years. Hrooom, many new things have come to me recently.

[hulloeverything]

[Eleven looks up, whistling in awe]

Oooh. You're a great deal larger than the trees I've met, before. Of course, they weren't Ents so I suppose that's to be expected.

Welcome to Paradisa. I'm the Doctor. [He grins and waggles his fingers in way of a wave at Treebeard]

[treeshepherd]

Very pleased. [Treebeard inclined his head.]

I am called Treebeard.

[hulloeverything]

It's a pleasure to meet you Treebeard. Normally about now I'd be telling you about the castle itself. But, well, since I'm not sure how often you'd be in the castle I suppose I should tell you about everything else.

[He smiles, pulling his journal out of his pocket]

This is a journal. You'll have one of your own, of course. It's a means of communication with everyone else in the castle. You can limit it, of course, by just writing in a name. If you do that only that person, or people, will be able to see it.

[treeshepherd]

[He rumbles faintly.] Never had much use for such structures. They come and go so quickly. Very hasty.

[And to the rest he responds with jovial amusement.]

I do not think that any writing will be of much use to me.

[hulloeverything]

I know how you feel, in that regard. After eleven hundred and seven years I've seen a great deal of things change.

{He smiles] Oh, you never now. The castle might not give you a choice one of these days.

[treeshepherd]

I have met very few persons as old as I am. Much has changed since I was young.

Not surprising at all. As men count years, I have walked the world for over eleven thousand years.

[He chuckles.]

The hands and eyes of an Ent are not well suited for writing. I learned to read the writing of men and elves long ago. But it must be a very large book indeed for an Ent to make use of it.

[hulloeverything]

[He smiles patiently]

Mmm but this place will surprise you. I was turned into a plant for three months, myself. You never know if you may be turned human.

[treeshepherd]

[He blinks with mild alarm.]

I have never heard of such a thing.

[hulloeverything]

Yes, well, it's sort of an anomaly here. Every once in a while the castle may put you on a so-called loss, in some cases it may turn you into something or someone else. I, myself have become a cat, a human, a teenager and a plant. Some are more pleasant than others.

[treeshepherd]

By root and bark, that is unusual.

[hulloeverything]

Very. This place as a whole is quite unusual, indeed.