Welcome to Summerlin

Cherie found herself in a cave surrounded by little naked winged people.
"Am I dead?" she asked.
"Not yet, but maybe if you don't stop yelling." One of them said.  She faced the little squirt and opened her mouth to retort when she heard it.
A baying wolf.  Then another.  That shut her up.  She took a second to breathe in her surroundings.  Fifty or so little bug people and some birds.  The ground felt dry like dirt.  A couple fireflies lit up a corner across from her.  The cave didn't really look like a cave now.
"Are we in a tree?" she asked.
"SSSSSHHHHH!" came the reply.  From outside.  And above.  Like the tree itself was shushing her.  She touched the tree where it hit her in the back, like rubbing someone's shoulder in condolence as a sign she'd gotten the message.  Shutup.  Loud and clear.  The tree itself felt like it was shaking.  She took some deep, calming breaths she'd learned in yoga and willed the tree to chill out.  Willed all the damned buzzing things to just chill the fuck out. She breathed slow and deep like the gulf at the beach.  Closed her eyes and went there, all the while stroking the huge ass tree giving them cover.  She didn't know what was out there, but she sure as hell didn't want to.  She thought about what Thalia told her about her weird dreams and wondered if it were true.  Can you get hurt here and stay hurt in real life? God, she hoped to hell not. After what seemed like hours, when the baying seemed to have drifted much further south (is south still south here?), the creatures moved silently up the tree, beseeching her to join their ranks.  She complied.  What choice did she have?  They moved as one body up and to another branch.  It was dark, but she would recognize the smell anywhere.  She was in that grove of trees again.  The one with the weird fruit.  She didn't have much time to ponder anything.  The group kept moving.  At one point, she looked down.  It was dark, but she could tell it was quite a drop from where she stood.  Cherie's legs began shaking and she pitched forward before she felt herself being lifted by her shirt and jeans (did she fall asleep in her clothes again?), little claws tickling her arms, hips, knees.  She suppressed a giggle.  This situation did not call for giggling and tried to wish herself as light as possible.  These little bug people were weird, for sure, but she didn't want one of them getting hurt trying to save her.  They were already scared out of their wits, poor little guys.  They plopped her at a V in the trunk of a tree in the center of the grove.  She felt the branches sort of move out of the way to catch her fall.  These trees seem to be so alive here, it was freaky.  But, when in Rome--"Thank you," she whispered.

The tree relaxed in response.  "No, thank you." It seemed to be talking.  She didn't know if she was hearing the tree for real or only in her mind.  The thought she was dreaming, but didn't know for sure.  She'd just convinced herself that she wasn't going crazy when the tree spoke again.  "Thank you for saving my sister.  I could feel she was very frightened.  The wolves must have been very close.  The People's Guard worked amazingly well.  It doesn't always.  Tonight would not have been a good night for a glitch to occur."
Cherie mulled this over, trying to make sense of it all. "You're welcome." was all she could muster.  The bug people seemed much more relaxed here, but still regarded her with guarded eyes.
"Perhaps if you stopped calling them bug people to yourself, you'd find the People more friendly toward you.  Before Cherie could deny it, one of the little bug--the little people stepped out of the crowd and flitted onto her knee.  Cherie took the time to really notice her.  If these things can hear my thoughts, they are going to like what they hear.  This wasn't hard.  She was breathtaking.  Her skin was like camouflage, shifting colors before her eyes.  All shades of brownish-orange with flecks of green thrown in.  She had all the colors of the tree.  Her wings were like moths, one with a big hole, right in the center, but when a firefly flew closer, she saw that it wasn't a hole, only transparent.  The hole was filled with a clear skin, veined like a spiderweb.  Breathtaking.  Her little eyes sparkled just like Jewely's.
"Jewely, yes", the little girl whispered.  She giggled.  "Little girl, really? Not bad for 586." She did a little spin and finished with a curtsy.  "Aidan Lavende, at your service. Please allow me to be the first to welcome you to Summerlin."
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