The Cloister of Auren

The Cloister steps down the north slope of Auren in three terraces, behind a wall twice the height of a man. On the upper terrace stand the gate, the small church and the Bell Tower; on the middle one, the cloister proper, a square of arcades around a well and an herb garden, with the refectory, the cells and the old wing where the squires sleep; on the lower one, the infirmary with its tower and courtyard, and the Little Ones’ House, the orphanage.

It is a place built for many people to live in little space, and it smells like it: ash soap, porridge, crushed herbs, wet wool and, in the infirmary, vinegar and blood. Before the Breaking everything was the same honey; afterwards the infirmary doors turned out to be green, the tiles red and the acolytes’ tunics white.

This is the home of Teo and Sera, and the place where Edrin died.