3
The gale outside the tower-top room had not abated at all, though it had altered. What had been a freezing wind had grown balmy in temperature, and smelled of sun upon the sea. Oriane followed its current back the way she had come, only to find, to her immense surprise, that the staircase was not where she had left it. Where there had been a way down, there was now a blank stone wall.
‘I suppose,’ said she, after a moment’s silent astonishment, ‘that if one may catch the winds in this peculiar place and weave the breezes into shawls, then a staircase may grow tired of always being in one spot, and take itself exploring instead.’ All of which might be quite reasonable according to the rules of Laendricourt, but the reflection did not in any way resolve the problem of how to get down, fo
