“In daylight, it was larger than he'd registered last night. The central trunk — the original trunk, from which everything had descended — was massive, scarred, ancient. He'd never seen Ajoba measure it, but he guessed the circumference at nine or ten metres. The aerial roots that had become secondary trunks surrounded it like the pillars of a mandapa, a temple hall, creating a shaded space beneath the canopy that was cool and dark even at midday. The leaves — thick, leathery, dark green — overlapped so densely that the canopy was almost solid, only occasional coins of sunlight making it through.”