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When Rosamund's son and heir was come of age, the Lady Ausmandine of Ben Bison made gift to him of a residence in a grotto upon her mountain. This natural cave had previously been finished to serve as baths for the Brugh, as it houses a clear hot spring. By the time the grotto was gifted to Almond, the more sumptuous new baths at Ben Bison had been completed, and the grotto was no longer in regular use save as a quiet retreat. Its opening onto the north-west slope of the mountain is not easily seen from below, where it is fronted by a shrine to Pan. Since his investiture as Count of Rowan-Oak and Lord of the Brugh, Almond has refurbished the grotto, which he keeps as his quarters and where he can privately relax away from the demands of office.
Warmed throughout by the heat of the spring, the grotto comprises a number of chambers. From the mountainside, an antechamber leads into a spacious cavern, its floors smoothes and set with colorful mosaics, a mumrmuring stream running through it, crossed by an ornamental bridge. At one end hangs a faded crimson banner, once splendid, embroidered with the Fiona lion in silver thread. In front of this is a wooden stand supporting a finely wought cuirass and fierce goat-visaged helmet, and his noble sword, Heartbreaker, slung from its baldric. The rest of the cavern is arranged as a study, with a tiled fireplace flanked by deep leather armchairs, a natural ledge above serving as a shelf for books, pictures, keepsakes and even a diminutive cuckoo-clock, intricately carved. Opposite the fireplace on the near side of the stream to the entrance, a few steps lower than the study, is a smaller cavern furnished as a sleeping chamber, its far end almost completely filled by a rope-frame mattress piled with featherbeads and furs. Carven chests of olivewood store his clothing and extra bedding. A rosewood harp stands on a low bench in one corner. Colorful, thick woven rugs decorate the stone floor. Irridescent glass globes of 19th century nocker manufacture provide diffuse, soft light in each chamber, and can be dimmed or brightened with a word, but are quite fragile. |
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