It stood above them, about a half mile away, lit bright against a blue sky and dazzling plumes of snow.
The monastery was built upon the craggy walls of a volcanic crater, crowning three little peaks, its bastions and bridges cast between them. It was a maze of sloping walls and stone towers, gardens of gemlike green and ornaments of brass dazzling in the morning sun—white stone and gilded spoons on which monks hurled themselves from temple to temple.
It rose up out of a pine wood, through which paths wound, lined with gray prayer flags flapping in the breeze. From the high battlements, the morning horns sounded.
Katie, Jasper, and Lily had reached Vbngoom, the Platter of Heaven.