The Library Hall stood like a gentle giant on the eastern slope of the sect grounds—quiet, graceful, and shrouded in soft swirling light. Vines laced with blue spirit flowers crept across the carved stone walls, and thousands of ancient books hovered mid-air within, organized by invisible formations.
Inside, Elder Jill sat in a lotus posture atop a floating cushion in the central reading chamber. A gentle wind swirled around her, shifting the pages of the scriptures nearby. She was an elegant woman—her long silver-white hair tied in a single braid, her dark emerald robes marked by the sigil of Heavenly Wood, and her eyes… eyes that had seen more centuries than Kent could imagine.
"Kent King," she greeted, without even looking at him, her voice like a wind chime brushing against pine needles. "You arrived promptly."
Kent bowed. "Elder."
