. Alaric takes you along the Great Hall and up two flights of wide stairs. Partway along a hallway, he leads you through a door, and you find yourself in the Council Chamber of the Druids.

[Stained Glass Window]
Rows of seats rise on three sides of the room--a viewing gallery. In the center of the floor stands a large oval table. Alaric explains that this is where the Council meets. The far wall is lined with stained glass windows. Some of these seem to be of great antiquity, but the one in the center seems newer. Chief among the things pictured in that window is a sword in a marble block, which you immediately identify as the Sword of Shannara. In a scroll across the bottom of this window is the legend: Ab Scientia, Servitium. When you ask about it, Alaric explains that this is the motto of the Second Druid Council, and it means Service Through Knowledge.

After allowing you to look around for a while, Alaric takes you down the hallway to another door. Beyond it you find yourself even more amazed--there are more books here, lining the walls of the Library, than you have ever seen in your life.

Alaric proudly shows off several of the volumes, then allows you to look around, though he cautions you that the books must be handled carefully. You ask about the famed Druid Histories, but Alaric will only comment that those are kept elsewhere.

Alaric asks if you would now like to:

See the Side Galleries?
See the Great Tower?
Go rest for a while?
Go see the Lady Andrea now?



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