He led us back to the entrance of the family quarters and out into the twisting hallways of the Castle of Eight. These hallways were polished wood, living wood though, and though they seemed more mundane after the beautiful crystal lined hallways of the royal quarters, they were not. They may have just looked like wood at first glance but this was a part of the great tree itself and it was alive. The walls expanded and retracted just barely, you'd miss it if you weren't looking for it, but they were definitely breathing. Breathing walls trumped crystal walls for me but not in a good way. It was actually a bit disturbing. So I tried to ignore the walls as Danal led us down a staircase into the depths of the tree. After awhile the wood encasing us turned to stone and I realized we must have gone past the main trunk and down into the earth. The stairs opened up into a stone hallway at the end of which was a massive iron door, flung open. Heat radiated out of the doorway and I took a delighted breath of the warm air.
