The doors of the elevator went 'pon' and let them out into a long, unlit hall with windows running down its length.

"Freidh henn treyfhd eheil," the voice echoed after them quietly as they stepped out.

"Anyway, I think I kind of went into shock after that," Liya finished. Helly chuckled.

"Yes," they said, "Interworld travel can be hard on first-timers."

There were statues in the rafters, just like everywhere else. She had a closer look at them now--they were dogs, or something like them, and they were draped slinkily over the beams, smiling their crocodile smile. Large green stones hung from their long jaws, wrapped in gold wire.

Red stone pillars lined the windows to her right, windows which overlooked the Palace grounds below. The bailey just below her was hemmed in by a white wall with red shingles. In the distance beyond, a glassy lake lay surrounded by low stone buildings. Past them lay another wall, seeming miniscule from here, and then there was nothing but green plains under tall white clouds.

Liya looked at it all, faintly uneasy.

"Am I a prisoner here?" she said aloud, half to herself. Helly's head swiveled round in surprise, and the creature on their shoulder followed suit.

"I imagine not!" Helly said, sounding amused. "They don't usually put prisoners up as guests in the Palace."

They reached a door at the end of the hall--a solid smooth sheet of stone, like so much else. Above it a mural was painted on the red plaster. Liya peered at it curiously; it appeared to be the silhouette of a deer, or something like a deer--its tail was awfully long, and tufted at the end--and above that were nine yellow bars in different lengths, outlined carefully in dark grey.

Helly wrapped their finger-roots around the slot in the door and it began to slide open. Liya shook herself.

"Then why was I brought to Aetheri?" she wanted to know, following Helly out, "I thought--"

She paused.