Aeryl led Irenya along a colonnade toward the bathhouse, chatting about gardens and the vagaries of the weather. Behind monosyllabic responses, Irenya sorted through the questions in her head and asked the one most pressing.
‘Where’s the building with that huge mirror?’
The woman appeared to be puzzled. ‘We have just left it.’
Irenya looked back at the heavy studded door through which they had come. ‘You mean the staircase with the mirror is here? I haven’t been moved to another place?’
‘Moved?’ said Aeryl. ‘Up and down stairs—Ilkyrie is a large place, as you can see.’ She lowered her voice to a confidential tone. ‘Given the deplorable way we have to travel nowadays it is difficult to move anywhere.’
Irenya brushed aside the comment; she wasn’t interested in someone else’s problems. H
