Editing Black Heath (section)

=== The Forest's Lie ===
The forest lies [1]. Not often [1]. Not obviously [1]. But Tappers — particularly the Elders — have documented instances where the forest's communications were deliberately misleading [1]. A warning of danger where none existed, drawing a community away from a mineral deposit the forest wanted left alone [1]. A sense of welcome and safety in a region where the root network was about to undergo aggressive expansion, swallowing structures and pathways [1]. A feeling of deep approval directed at a settlement that was, in hindsight, being slowly surrounded and absorbed [1].

The forest is not evil [1]. But it is not honest [1]. It is an intelligence that operates on principles humans do not fully understand, with goals that extend across centuries [1]. The Tappers know this [1]. They account for it [1]. They test the forest's communications against their own observations and experience [1].

But the Deep-Tapped — the Elders who have been in the network for decades — are less inclined to question [1]. They trust the Singing [1]. They have become, in some ways, more forest than human [1].

And the forest knows this too [1].