You know? I'm surprised to smart Gnomes like Fred and Emma couldn't figure out the tree problem right away. They could just petition the government to increase the retirement age (gradually of course, over a span of decades) so that the trees would never get to fully retire, just keep hosting Gnomes on the PROMISE of retirement. It worked in the USA.

Thanks for a great start to what promises to be a fun tale. You rock, Snook.