View source for Ath's Hostel - Forthmark

A hostel belonging to [[Ath's Brotherhood]] is near the city of [[Forthmark]]. By [[Third Age]] 5320, it has been abandoned and taken over by the [[Koriathain]] as a healer's hospice.

{{Box|The ancient hospice [...] was an ungainly, rambling edifice, drilled like a battered honeycomb into the limestone scarps south of [[Forthmark]]. Its crumbling warren of storerooms harbored perpetual, clammy humidity, fed by damp, porous rock that seeped from the flow of underground hot springs. The spacious outer chambers used to house the sick were less oppressive, spared by the beat of clean sunlight through south-facing casements.<ref name="som-hospice" />}}

Unlike [[Whitehaven]], the carvings on the entrance of this hostel reflect a state of gentle neglect. A cliff stair descends down the limestone scarps to the hostel gate.

==Role in the Story==
{{Spoiler|multiple books in the series}}
===The Gallant===
''[[Third Age]] 4995'': Following the migration of [[methspawn]] with [[cierl-ankeshed venom]], [[Verrain]] slips back into catatonia. [[Sethant]] transports him to the [[Forthmark]] hostel, which is actively maintained by [[Ath's Adepts]]. An initiate tells [[Sethant]] that [[Verrain]]'s spirit is entwined with [[Lisianne]]'s and he cannot be healed. She offers to restore his free will through the [[Sacred Grove]]. In the [[Sacred Grove]], [[Verrain]] is met by a marmalade tomcat from [[Lisianne]]'s library and then [[Lisianne]] herself. She invites him to cross over into death, but he does not accept. Instead, he cries out for answers as to why [[Mirthlvain Swamp]] was left unguarded. The strength of [[Verrain]]'s convictions drains the power from this hostel and reforges him as the [[Guardian of Mirthlvain]].

With the source of power gone, [[Ath's Adepts]] withdraw from this hostel, with initiates traveling to hostels in [[Spire]] and [[Ath's Hostel - Shaddorn|Shaddorn]].

===Ships of Merior===
''[[Third Age]] 5645'': [[Elaira]] is assigned to the hostel preparing remedies for [[Vastmark]] shephards. She is summoned before the [[Prime Enchantress]] after a grand scrying to submit her crystal for [[longevity]] enhancement. She chooses to do so, based upon [[Sethvir]]'s augury. Three months into the process (on midsummer solstice), [[Elaira]] (whose body is in the hospice is drawn into the [[Senior Council]]'s scrying for [[Arithon]] along the [[Seventh Lane]].

===Traitor's Knot===
''[[Third Age]] 5670'': [[Selidie]] is at the hospice in autumn, where a healer once again fails to repair her maimed hands.

==References==
<references>
<ref name="som-hospice">&copy; Janny Wurts, <u>[[Ships of Merior]]</u>, p. 112 (US-Hardback)</ref>
</references>

[[Category:Places]]