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wall that parted as he neared. The stone panels were a good nine yards high
and seven wide, but they moved quickly and silently, retracting flush into the
walls, so well fitted that Dainyl doubted a knife blade would fit between the
stones. When open, no one could have guessed there were stone doors. Dainyl
noted the deftness with which the elder alector had used his Talent to
activate the portals.
Within moments after the two passed through the entrance, the stone doors
closed behind them. Dainyl could feel the immediate and welcome warmth and
dampness to the air within the chamber, more like summer in Lysia or Tylora.
Asulet stopped and gestured around the columned hall in which they stood. For
reasons I never quite grasped, the first lifemasters here decided to call
this the Council Hall. He laughed once more, again with an ease that Dainyl
en-vied. We never have had a council, nor any need for such, but then, maybe
they knew what they were doing. It s the smallest of the three great halls.
The other two originally were used to house the first pteridons until we
tunneled the barracks and squares to the south.
Dainyl glanced around the space, modestly lit with light-torches set in wall
brackets exactly three yards above the polished red eternastone floor. The
hall was not exactly small, not at fifty yards in length and fifteen in width,
with ceilings easily ten yards high. Like the floor, the walls and ceilings
were of polished red eternastone. The redstone so treated did not reflect
light, for all its apparent shine and shimmer.
Your quarters will be in the upper quadrant, Asulet went on as he resumed
walking toward the square archway set in the middle of the back wall. They re
quite spacious, with a private bath and accommodations. No windows, of course,
but when they were built, there wasn t anything to see, and the winter cold
might well have shattered any glass.
The floors, the light-torches, the walls everything looked so crisp, so
recently formed that it was hard for Dainyl to realize just how ancient
Lyterna was.
We will have dinner in a glass. That should give you some time to refresh
yourself. Just past the archway, Asulet touched a light-torch bracket on the
right wall. Another stone door opened, revealing steps leading upward. The
upper level is far more comfortable.
Dainyl followed the silver-haired alector up the staircase cut from the solid
stone, a distance more than twice the height of a staircase in most
structures. There was no portal at the top, and they stepped out into a
circular foyer nine yards across. Three wide hallways radiated from the foyer.
All were four yards wide and brightly lit with light-torches set at three-yard
alternating intervals along the stone walls.
The center corridor leads to the dining and common rooms, and the library,
Asulet explained. Quarters for distinguished guests, such as you, are set
along the far left corridor. Somewhat larger apartments for those of us who
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toil here are set along the right-hand corridor. He turned down the left
corridor. Most of these are seldom used. We get very few guests for long
these days, and it s always good to see a new face.
Once an alector gets& a great deal of experience& is this where?
Asulet laughed again. Very few alectors age enough for it to show, but
Lyterna is always available for those with, as you put it, experience who wish
a quieter life. There is much we do not know about life here on Acorus, and
there have never been enough minds and hands to properly study and catalog
what is here, much less to mold additional useful life-forms.
The older alector stopped at second door and turned the flat bronze lever,
letting the door swing open. He gestured for Dainyl to enter.
Dainyl took two steps inside and surveyed the sitting room. On the right wall
was a large mural-like painting, showing the grasslands to the west in spring
green, with wildflowers blossoming, and a herd of antelope. Beneath the
lifelike depiction was a settee, with the long legs and high back designed for
alectors. On the wall directly before him was a wide and high white oak desk,
with rounded edges, but clean and unornamented lines. The desk chair reminded
Dainyl of the chairs in the chambers of the High Alector of Justice, without
cushions or upholstery, but gently curved. On the wall above the desk was an
oval painting of the High Court of Illustra, with the twin green towers that
framed the palace of the Archon. On each side of each of the two paintings was
a light-torch in a bronze holder.
The walls were of the redstone, but pale green hangings, like full-length
drapes, ran from ceiling to floor on each side of the desk and on each side of
the painting on the wall to Dainyl s right. The floor was almost entirely
covered by a large oval carpet of dark green, bordered in gold, and with a
gold eight-pointed star of the Duarches in the center.
Asulet gestured toward the ceiling, pointing to the corners of the room. The
ventilation louvers have levers so that you can adjust them. The lever with
the blue handle is for cold air, and the one with the red handle is for warm
moist air. You can t close them completely because there has to be some
circulation, but you ought to be able to find a mix that s comfortable.
Dainyl glanced around the room before catching sight of the two narrow but
wide air return ducts set just above the floor beyond the edges of the
hangings on the wall he faced. How do you get the warm moist air?
That was one reason why Lyterna was located here. There are boiling springs.
We tapped them, for both hot water and heat. Be careful with the hot water for
a bath or shower. It is very hot. With a smile, Asulet stepped back into the
corridor. I ll meet you in the foyer in a glass.
After the older alector had headed back in the direction of the foyer, Dainyl
closed the door. On the inside of the heavy oak door was a simple privacy
bolt, no more. He turned and walked through the sitting room to the
bedchamber, dominated by a triple-width bed with a plain white oak headboard
and footboard. The coverlet was dark green. A white oak armoire two yards wide
stood against one wall, far more space than Dainyl would ever use. With a
smile, he set the saddlebags holding his gear on the rack beside the armoire.
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