"Then please follow me. I'm sure Alek can answer questions about his expectations and your interest in him far better than I ever could..."
The door opens wide, and Bree ushers you in. The hallway behind the door is large, spacious. The walls are gilded, and adorned with a multitude of paintings of gnomes, landscapes, and bizarre events in mythology. Numerous doors and stairways snake off from the main hall in all directions, all gnome-sized and too small for a human to easily fit. On consoles at various intervals across the hall, various objets d'art sit. On one, a polished black urn, capped by a natural skull, is displayed. Further down, Calahan notices a violin on a stand. The wood is reddish in tone, and the head of the bridge is carved to look like a wolf. The strings and the bow are black.
"Yes, the violin is Kartakan," a voice calls from above. "It was a gift to the family for services rendered to a pack of musicians. No, band, that is the human word, yes."
Up above, on a balcony, leading back into the small branching hallways behind blue velvet drapes, stands Alek. His outfit remains the form-fitting white shirt and hose, with a white cape, white and brass walking stick, and large, wide-brimmed black hat. His new face remains the grotesque pasty leer from before, like a theatrical mask.
"I'm glad you've come. Although I did expect to see Hieran. Pity, I would have loved to show him our gardens. I hear he likes roses.
In any case, I could go on... but you do have questions you wish to ask of me?"