Location from Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The cloud-halls of the House — marble galleries so high that weather forms inside them, where albatrosses wheel through mist and fresh water condenses on ancient stone.
The Upper Halls are where the House touches the sky — or where the sky enters the House, which may be the same thing. Clouds move through these galleries with the slow majesty of weather systems, and it is possible to stand in one hall in bright, clear air and look through a doorway into another hall that is entirely lost in fog. Rain happens here, softly, condensing on marble surfaces and gathering in pools that Piranesi collects for drinking water. The albatrosses own these halls. They nest on ledges and in the niches alongside statues, building rough constructions of seaweed and debris brought up from the Lower Halls. Their cries echo through the upper levels — wild, keening sounds that are the closest thing the House has to music. Piranesi loves the birds. He has named several of them. He climbs to the Upper Halls to collect fresh water and to sit among them, and their presence is one of the things that makes his solitude bearable.
Halls identical in structure to the levels below, but filled with sky. Clouds drift through these galleries — real clouds, white and grey, trailing wisps of moisture that bead on the statues' faces like tears. The light here is brighter and more variable than below, shifting from the pearlescent glow of fog to sudden shafts of something almost like sunlight. The marble surfaces are damp, furred with moss in sheltered corners, and freshwater streams trickle down staircases from condensation pools. Albatrosses perch on the heads and outstretched arms of statues, their white plumage startling against the grey stone.
Also known as: The Cloud Halls, The Bird Halls