And Such Are Stones

8. Musings of a Student in Tir-Na-Nog

This is a collection of letters from the Mage Trininon before he became the Arch-Mage of the college in Tir-Na-Nog. It is sad that so many of his writings were lost over the years, but they have been a treasure trove of information from a bygone era.

It is obvious from the way these letters were written that Trininon and Elton were close and had a special relationship. Trininon went well out of his way to show how he viewed his surroundings. They were done with enough detail that even the blind poet Elton would be able to see it for himself.

Here are the letters salvaged from Gildreath's belongings. Gildreath was a descendant of the Trininon family and lived in Four Rivers until his death. After his death, the children of Gildreath's sister were sent to Four Rivers to retrieve his belongings and bring back whatever they could find.

The Keepers purchased the letters after the fall of Duumnal and have secured them in the archives at Stonecliff ever since.

Quatan, Keeper of Knowledge, Stonecliff

The Palace at Tir-Na-Nog

My dearest Uncle,

I visited the palace today. The grandeur is almost more than words can describe. I really wish that you could see this city as I do. Knowing your poetic nature, I will try to give you a mental picture to frame in your mind.

I stand now in the garden, looking toward the palace from the Eastern Gate. Two other gates, the Southern Gate and the Western Gate, face the city. The North Gate is towards the mountain, which is the official path for visitors as they descend the mountain from the Griffin Post above and wish to go to the palace. None of the other gates are where I can see them from here as they are blocked by the garden, I now stand in.

The mountain rises steeply to my right from the garden's edge. Terraced rows follow the terrain where caffa and teas are grown, with steps up from each terrace to the next and an arched opening into the hillside on every fourth terrace. Some workers, probably students, are tending the plants, and each has a basket on their back for carrying items of produce, tools, or mulch.

Stairs rise to the palace arch in front of me, curving slightly to the left as they narrow from about fifty feet wide at the bottom stair to about twenty feet wide at the veranda that acts as a landing from the top of the stair to the arch. The arch is decorated with carvings of scenes from the island's history, and it has a compass at the top center, showing that this is the Eastern Arch. The arch leads to the step where the edge of the veranda meets the edge of the floating palace, and the entrance is through a matching arch that leads into the palace.

There are about forty steps, each a yard wide with floating lights every four steps, and they are at both ends of the step. The steps are alabaster and swirled with the purplish stone that seems to be what all of the islands are made of. The lights are clear glass balls about a foot across, encased with flames made of silver-hued metal, and are forged with the "Fljótandi Málmgrýtie", the floating ore, to allow them to rise above their surroundings. They are held with four-foot-long silver chains every four steps. Inside the glass balls are embedded glowing crystals in patterns that resemble flames and actually give a fire-like effect as the lights move and dance in the gentle breeze.

The palace is a grand structure with spires and domed roofs. It is suspended and floats above the ground with massive reflective chains that have links at least three feet in diameter. The chains are mounted to great stone-carved hands that hold them to the ground on all sides of the palace and enter holes in the edges of the base of the structure to be secured somewhere inside.