Following the elder, Martin left the reception hall and headed straight upstairs without even getting the chance to look around.
Before he fully realized it, he was already standing before grand wooden doors carved with intricate patterns. They opened the moment they sensed the elder's presence.
A bright, warm light spilled over him.
It was nothing like the glow of lanterns or chandeliers. It poured down through the roofless crown of the tree itself, straight from the Light Tree, bathing everything in the room in a quiet radiance. Or perhaps the Light Tree was not merely lighting the chamber. Perhaps it was part of everything that happened here.
The room looked like a council chamber, but one grown rather than built. A thick wooden branch ran through it like the spine of the chamber itself, wide enough to serve as the Forest Table, while smaller branches curved upward into seats for each elder around it.
