Chapter 8 - Harata

some three hundred and ten or three hundred and twenty leagues southwest of Mount Kana there is a region called Harata ... it should not ... be confused with ... Hartre, to the south ... Harata is ... a place of rolling hills ... a large number of small ponds, gentle meadows, and ... small wooded areas ... most of the Empire's wool came from this district. In the days of the Empire, the wool had, most often, been transported to the Elbow River, from which point it could be loaded on ships, which might journey to Hartre, or to Elde Island, or to barges that would make their way along the Grand Canal from Candletown to Dragaera City.

The Elbow River was named by a certain Tiassa who, seeing it from atop Blackbird Mountain, fancied it resembled a bent arm as it westerly course made an abrupt southward turn as it was joined by streams running from [Blackbird Mountain] ... As for Blackbird Mountain itself ... it was named by Lord Blackbird ... he also named the stream that flows down from it, the river that stream becomes and which flows into the Elbow River just at the elbow, and the surrounding district ... the name of the duchy was changed from Blackbird to Blackbirdriver, which is why the single largest political division within the geographical region of Harata takes its name from what is, in fact, little more than a stream, and one that passes through the duchy for only a score or so of miles

the County of Larkspur, where the Duchess of Blackbirdriver had her seat, matters were not as bad as they were in many other counties .... because of certain lowlands at the base of the mountain, which, combined with the extreme heat of summer and the moderation of the winter, permitted the growing of fieldrice ... The manor of Larkspur was a long, low structure ... built solidly of stones that had been brought up the Elbow River at great expense and difficulty because of the breakdown of transportation ... [from Ibronka's window, she can see] very plain, unadorned fields of grass.

[from Blackbirdriver go] wait for a caravan that will be passing through Lorimel in one or two days ... You must stay with this caravan until it reaches the coast, which will be near Hartre, after which you must search for another caravan and continue eastward until you come to the coastal city of Adrilankha. There, you must find my kinsman, Lord Shellar, Baron of Alban ... it is some three or four hours to Lorimel ... [Chapter 23] at this pace, you will kill your horse before we have made it halfway to Lorimel ... after which they resumed the journey at a more reasonable rate, which brought them several hours later into Lorimel.

[Lorimel was] a location along the Great Northwestern Road that had once run, unbroken, some six hundred leagues from the Kanefthali Mountains all the way to Adrilankha

Remember that little hamlet just east of Candletown? ... Bevinger's House ... They had appeared behind the inn, between a pair of oak trees near the stable.