ARIA POINT OF VIEW

The doors to the dining hall opened, and I stopped short without meaning to.

The room was enormous.

Long stone walls stretched outward on both sides, carved with ancient markings that glimmered faintly under the light of tall iron chandeliers.

Flames danced high above, their reflections flickering across polished floors that looked as though they had been smoothed by centuries of use.

A table longer than any I had ever seen ran through the center of the hall, its ...