“I need to find a quiet corner of the world just for me, where I have only my own emotions to deal with.”
The Song Bower is the southern most area of the upper levels. After the Upper Commons, here we learn more about the conflicts of the sylvari and more detail about their culture.
We learn that the cycle they are born in affects their strength. “We’re strong in the dark, and you know it. We’re both of the Cycle of Night.”We also learn that the sylvari have great affinity with nature, and the world around them. “If you look closely, you’ll find war, love, and life all around you.”
Some sylvari also feel a calls to explore the world but that doesn’t mean that they do not feel a range of personal emotions. “I feel the call, but the thought of leaving the Grove both thrills and terrifies me.”While others feel this call causes to much anguish in them. “It doesn’t feed me. It forces itself down my throat until I’m gagging on it.”
We also learn a taste of sylvari culture compared to others such as asura. “You’re a plant, and you can talk. Do you talk to other plants?” And humans. “Did you hear that human’s armor? It made such a racket!”
SB01Adventurer: Many other cultures dress themselves in animal hide. It’s as tough as a walnut shell.
Citizen: It looks so stiff, though. And what about the poor animal that was wearing it before?
Adventurer: The animal doesn’t need it anymore.
SB02Asuran Traveler: You’re a plant, and you can talk. Do you talk to other plants?
Citizen: Not exactly. I sense things about them.
Asuran Traveler: Can you sense which have the greatest concentration of poison?
Citizen: No.
Asuran Traveler: Bah! What good are you?
SB03Citizen: Did you hear that human’s armor? It made such a racket!
Citizen (2): I tried it once. The cacophony nearly drove me Soundless.
Citizen: Homegrown armor is prettier, too.
SB04Citizen: Hey! I heard about the joke you played. Boiled eggs! (laugh)
Citizen (2): He fell for it completely! (laugh)
SB05Citizen: I feel the call, but the thought of leaving the Grove both thrills and terrifies me.
Citizen (2): We can learn a great deal from the Pale Tree’s long roots and arching boughs.
Citizen (2): Though it stretches its limbs far overhead, it remains rooted, and it bends so as not to break.
SB06Citizen: I have to leave. I can’t take it anymore.
Citizen (2): I don’t understand. The Dream feeds us!
Citizen: It doesn’t feed me. It forces itself down my throat until I’m gagging on it.
Citizen: I need to find a quiet corner of the world just for me, where I have only my own emotions to deal with.
Citizen (2): I’ll be lonely.
Citizen: Perhaps. But I must go. I must find a way to break this curse.
Citizen (2): The Dream is not a curse!
SB07Citizen: I want to go spy on them. What harm can it do?
Citizen (2): I’m willing to go, just not during the day. The hylek are most active then.
Citizen (2): We’re strong in the dark, and you know it. We’re both of the Cycle of Night. Citizen: I know, but I’m afraid all we’ll get to see are sleeping hylek. How boring!
SB08Citizen: I’m overcome with glee!
SB09Citizen: Oh my goodness. Poor little plants.
SB10Citizen: Smell that? How fascinating.
SB11Citizen: So far, mandrake is the most joyous plant I’ve ever known.
Citizen (2): Their roots are shaped like us. Perhaps that is why.
SB12Citizen: They’re talking about changing Ring etiquette yet again.
Citizen (2): Oh, how the vines of our lives twist and twine.
Citizen (2): And through it all, the one thing we can count on, no matter what, is change.
SB13Citizen: We are the ward that keeps this place safe. Stand strong.
SB14Citizen: What are you doing?
Citizen (2): Have you ever really looked at trees? Have you felt their movement? Nothing is ever truly still.
Citizen: I never realized there were so many colors in tree bark.
Citizen (2): Beauty is in the details.
Citizen: Don’t you get bored, sitting here all day?
Citizen (2): Oh no. You don’t have to travel to foreign places to find adventure.
Citizen (2): If you look closely, you’ll find war, love, and life all around you.
Citizen: I’m exhausted from the looking. Perhaps I’ll have more luck tomorrow.
SB15Citizen: You need water, hemlock, and bloodflower? You know they’re poisonous, right?
Asuran Traveler: Of course I know they’re poisonous! That’s the point.
SB16Mist Warrior: We must all do our part to protect our world. Come. Fight beside us in the Mist War.
SB17Warden: Good morning, sunshine! Or should I say “nightshade”?
Warden (2): Don’t start. I’m leaving.
Warden: It can’t be healthy going through life a stinging nettle. You’re going to give yourself the rot. Oh wait. Too Late.
SB18Warden: I was noticing the other day how plants resemble the body part they heal.
Warden (2): Like how a slice of carrot looks like an eye?
Warden: Exactly. And how a cocoa bean resembles a broken heart.
SB19Warden: Shhhh. Listen. Feel.
Warden (2): What?
Warden: Ah, there it is. The moment when night gives up its dominion, and day opens its eyes upon the world.
SB20Warden: It’s a good day to return to the dream.
Warden (2): What do you mean?
Warden: When a warrior says, “It’s a good day to return to the Dream,” it means it’s a good day to die.
Warden (2): I see. How do you know we return to the Dream when we die.
Warden: I don’t. It’s just wishful thinking.
Warden (2): Oh. Then, I won’t wish you a good day.
Tyrian Tomes 