The Lantern Pools

The Lantern Pools receive guests, refugees, envoys, and prisoners under watched kindness. Lamps beside the water show who is protected, who is suspected, and who has not yet earned a path beyond the basin. The pools are beautiful: gold light on black water, pale roots, bread trays, folded blankets, silver cups. They are also interrogation rooms softened by courtesy. Every alliance in Lysvar may begin there; so may a refusal that saves the realm and condemns the person who begged. The water reflects faces clearly enough that lies often seem rude before they seem dangerous.