The new disciples began filing out of the Sword Pavilion School while the attendants, with Calyx, led them farther up the terraces.
The eighth and ninth levels had always been off-limits, so even the climb itself carried a strange weight.
When they reached the great archway, Calyx placed a hand against it.
At once, a screen of light descended, thin as silk and bright as water under the sun.
The moment they passed through, the disciples were struck by a fragrance unlike anything they had ever known.
Here, precious tea shrubs grew beside fruit trees heavy with ripeness.
Beds of rare vegetables spread in neat rows, and every branch and leaf seemed richer, cleaner, more vivid than anything below.
Youngbanners was the first to step closer. He stared at a cabbage whose leaves gleamed like green glass, and for a moment he simply stood there, unable to believe such a thing could be real.
