Re Albi

Re Albi, whose name means "Falcon's Nest," is the home of the great mage Ogion the Silent on the island of Gont. Perched on the edge of the high rocks of Overfell, it commands a view far below of the deep harbor and the towers of the Port of Gont, and far to the west across the sea one may make out the blue hills of Oranéa, easternmost of the Inward Isles. It is the place where Ged spends a formative winter learning the Runes of Hardic and the value of silence, and to which he returns in his greatest need, to be restored by his true master and sent forth on his final hunt.

Location and Setting

Re Albi is a town on the edge of the high rocks of Overfell, and its name means Falcon's Nest. From it one can see far below the deep harbor and the towers of the Port of Gont, and the ships that go in and out the gate of the bay between the Armed Cliffs, and far to the west across the sea one may make out the blue hills of Oranéa, easternmost of the Inward Isles. The mage's house, though large and soundly built of timber, with hearth and chimney rather than a firepit, was like the huts of Ten Alders village: all one room, with a goatshed built onto one side. There was a kind of alcove in the west wall of the room, where Ged slept. Over his pallet was a window that looked out on the sea, but most often the shutters must be closed against the great winds that blew all winter from the west and north.

Ogion's Home and Ged's Apprenticeship

Ogion, the Mage of Re Albi, is the one who tamed the earthquake that threatened the Port of Gont. He came to Ten Alders village to give Ged his true name, and later took him as his prentice. In the dark warmth of Ogion's house, Ged spent the winter, hearing the rush of rain and wind outside or the silence of snowfall, learning to write and read the Six Hundred Runes of Hardic. Very glad he was to learn this lore, for without it no mere rote-learning of charms and spells will give a man true mastery. Still no marvels and enchantments occurred. All winter there was nothing but the heavy pages of the Runebook turning, and the rain and the snow falling; and Ogion would come in from roaming the icy forests or from looking after his goats, and stamp the snow off his boots, and sit down in silence by the fire. And the mage's long, listening silence would fill the room, and fill Ged's mind, until sometimes it seemed he had forgotten what words sounded like: and when Ogion spoke at last it was as if he had, just then and for the first time, invented speech. Yet the words he spoke were no great matters but had to do only with simple things, bread and water and weather and sleep.

The Meadow and the Girl

As the spring came on, quick and bright, Ogion often sent Ged forth to gather herbs on the meadows above Re Albi, and told him to take as long as he liked about it, giving him freedom to spend all day wandering by rain-filled streams and through the woods and over wet green fields in the sun. He came on a meadow between two streams where the flower called white hallows grew thick, and as these blossoms are rare and prized by healers, he came back again next day. Someone else was there before him, a girl, whom he knew by sight as the daughter of the old Lord of Re Albi. She was a tall girl of about his own age, very sallow, almost white-skinned; her mother, they said in the village, was from Osskil or some such foreign land. Her hair fell long and straight like a fall of black water. This girl, Serret, would later lure Ged to the Court of the Terrenon in Osskil, where she served the Old Power of the Stone.

Ged's Return and Restoration

After his flight from Osskil in hawk-shape, Ged flew to the right haven. There were few on Roke and only one on Gont who could have made him back into a man. Ogion, who had come home late to Re Albi from his autumn wanderings, found the hawk on his wrist and restored him. In Ogion's house, Ged told his old master the tale of the years since he had sailed from Gont aboard the ship called Shadow. Ogion asked no questions, and when Ged was done he kept silent for a long time, calm, pondering. Then he rose, and set out bread and cheese and wine on the table, and they ate together. It was Ogion who gave Ged the counsel that changed his course: "You must turn around. You must seek what seeks you. You must hunt the hunter." And it was Ogion who made Ged a new staff of yew-wood, working on it by lampfire with knife and rubbing-stone and spell-craft, singing softly as he worked. In the cold dawn when Ogion woke, Ged was gone, having left a message of silver-scrawled runes on the hearthstone: "Master, I go hunting."