Location
Taralas is the capital of Quenardya. It is an arboreal city, constructed on a network of flets (platforms) that stretches through a large portion of the forest of Aelfwood. The center of the city is the Amanalda, or Blessed Tree:
The building, if it could be called such, was a tree — a tree like none other that the world had ever seen. It was, by Raven's rough estimate, at least two hundred feet wide, and it stretched far, far above them until it disappeared into the clouds. Its surface was a pale golden white, and it shone like something between alabaster and mother-of-pearl. The bark, if indeed it had bark in the ordinary sense, was as smooth as marble, or so it seemed as they looked upon it. Huge, massive branches bearing golden leaves stretched out from the tree on all sides, beginning about a hundred feet above the platform where Raven and the others stood. Long bridges extended out from the tree like spokes from a wheel, connecting it to the surrounding city of Taralas. Most surprisingly to Raven, she noticed doors, small windows and balconies spaced intermittently all around the tree; a massive pair of ivory- colored doors stood facing them on the far side of the bridge.
"…Do your carvings into the tree's body not do it harm?" Raven asked, at last finding her voice.
"The Amanalda is our first home, given to us by the Iluvatar," Tessariel answered, her aura radiating a sense of profound reverence. "As you see it now, it has ever been. Like the Elven people, it shall never grow old, nor fall sick, nor perish, until the day that the earth itself passes away."
–A Road Into Darkness
History
The King of Quenardya perished in a tragic accident in this city in 1868, when one of the bridges gave way unexpectedly beneath his feet. He had been on a quiet morning walk by himself, away from his Queen and bodyguards, and no one was there to save him when the ropes of a little-used and ancient bridge suddenly came loose as he crossed it.
Author's Notes
Sources: Quenardya
