King's Grove

Traditional Protected Grove of the King (of Ruhal), a forest of redwoods so high their crowns are perpetually hidden by coastal fog. Four day's walking journey from the royal residence at Korshan. Protected on its landward side by a wall of a mountain. Atop the mountain is an ancient hot spring, formerly a temple of the forest god, long-ruined, but still pouring down water into a steaming meander through the thick blanket of needles and ferns along the forest floor.

From Orland's memoir:

It was still early, and the stream through the grove was misty from the distant hot springs at the top of the mountain spur. I had never entered the grove itself, only ridden past in a closed carriage with my family. The morning forest was hushed beneath a high, thick fog from the sea. Soon birdsongs pierced the cold, humid air above, trills and dipping scales announcing the first sunlight at the unseen tops of the trees.

Awed and cheerful, I followed the occasional beam of light where it pointed through those ancient pillars and through fern patches high as my chest, navigating the cushioned path between sorrel and fallen trunks.

Several times I fell over, cursing my fate because it was hard to get up again, with the extra weight tied to my back. Still, it was only onto soft moss and dry fir needles that I fell each time, and as much as it was annoying, it was also a sweet relief. More than once I lay on my side, content, breathing in the pine scented bed, and making up stories about the creatures in the woods, and what they would say if they could speak in words, and if they would speak to me if I was quiet enough. . . .