CHAPTER 29With no hint of concern or resistance, Gordon the acolyte led Mara and gang—now clad in flowing acolyte robes—down the tunnel to the open floor of the Arboretum, speaking in a tour-guide-like monotone as he went. They made a point of encircling Ginger, cloaking her as best they could with the folds of their robes, though Mara was unsure how hidden the chobodon would be from someone looking down on them.
“This quadrant of the Arboretum, called the Chamber of Flame, is where Fire adepts learn and hone their craft,” he said, holding his arms out wide as they stepped from the mouth of the tunnel.
“What is that?” Sam asked, pointing to the ovoid suspended below the center of the ceiling and above the central pillar of woven vines.
“That is the Apex of the Arboretum, where the curat
