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~~((The National Ice Cream Day Special -- page 9 of 15))~~
It seemed to be quite the common feature here, though. Even many of the skyscrapers had branches protruding out of the sides of them. Some were themselves vaguely tree-shaped. Instead of going straight upward, whole sections of the buildings jutted out like stubby branches.

It was certainly beautiful, but Hector couldn't imagine that maintaining all this stuff was very easy. Clearly, the people of this country valued their trees, but at some point, trees needed to be trimmed down for reasons of safety, didn't they? If drivers couldn't see around the corner of an intersection because the trees there were overgrown, then that seemed like a pretty big problem. Or if a security camera's view was blocked by branches. Not to mention, when all those leaves started falling, how much could that interfere with...?

Hmm. Maybe he was becoming a little too security conscious.

'Oh, hey,' came Garovel's private words. 'I can sense you now.'

Hector blinked. 'Wait, what? You came to Lorent, too?'

'Yep. What, did you think I would let you talk to all those Lorentian politicians without me?'

'I, uh... hmm...'

'Wow. You could try sounding a LITTLE excited that I'm here. I mean, I'm not saying you're being a bad friend or anything, but y'know, it was kind of a long trip, and I think a GOOD friend would be excited to see me, so...'

'Garovel,' laughed Hector. 'Why didn't you just tell me you were coming?'

'It's been a while since I was able to hit you with a surprise. Honestly, this feels a little overdue.'

Hector exhaled another muted laugh through his nose. But then a thought him him. 'Garovel...'

'Yeah, buddy?'

'You got here kinda fast...'

'Did I?'

'We just arrived in the capital, and you're already here.'

'Oh, hmm. How weird.'

'Yeah...'

'Guess you guys were driving pretty slow, huh?'

'Don't think that's the reason, Garovel.'