On the fifteenth day of my journey across the Tevinter Imperium, our caravan reached a great rolling plain. Swaying grass hid flocks of birds so vast that when they took flight, their numbers blocked the sun. This, our guide informed us, was the great city of Barindur, wonder of the ancient world, famed for its fountains which were said to grant eternal youth. Not a single stone of Barindur remains, and nothing of the once-powerful city has ever been found. A secret now, that can never be told. —From In Pursuit of Knowledge: Travels of a Chantry Scholar by Brother Genitivi