The Weeping Banyan

A vast strangler-fig on the highest Drook island, its roots descending into the mere, where the delta-folk hang offerings and the Asheni hermit Olu roosts in the crown.

The banyan stands taller than the surrounding canopy, its aerial roots so thick and numerous they form their own forest descending to the water. The delta-folk call it the Reedmother's sister and hang split-reed bundles in its lower roots at flood season. Olu of the Asheni has lived in its crown for years and has learned to read the mere's moods from the wind through the upper branches.