‘Aye,’ Sig said, ‘we knew that, and loved him for it. But we would rather the both of you had stayed with us.’ Sig dipped her head a moment. ‘One last thing Byrne asked me to tell you. That Dun Seren is your home. It always has been, and always will be, if you so wish it.’

Home. That was a strange concept to Drem. Home had always been at his da’s side.

‘And I would say,’ Sig continued, ‘that you are not just Byrne’s kin, but kin to all of us. We of the Order have a bond that cannot be broken, and you were born there, spent your first four years amongst us. Olin was my sword-brother. He was my friend, and that’s more than enough for me, whether you are Byrne’s kin or no.’

Drem felt his chest swell at that, a surge of emotion. He had felt nothing but alone since his da’s death, and to hear Sig’s words felt as if a door had been unlocked in his heart. Tears glistened his eyes.

‘My heart breaks for Olin,’ Sig said. ‘He was brother to us all, and dearly missed these past years.’ She bowed her head, Keld and Cullen following suit, even the white crow. Drem was deeply touched by the small display of respect.

‘He spoke of you,’ Drem said when Sig looked up. ‘Though not until a moon or two ago. Until then I knew nothing of his past, or the Order of the Bright Star. He said you were friends.’

‘Aye, though friends is too small a word for it,’ Sig said. ‘And I knew your mother, Neve. We were all close, closer than kin. And you. You gave my shins more than one bashing with your wooden sword. I was not surprised to see you join us in the sword dance just now, as we could hardly keep you from it as a bairn. You showed great promise on the weapons-field.’

‘I did? I don’t remember.’

There were fractured, lightning flashes, more of frozen images and moments. A huge tower upon a hill. A stone, words carved upon it, smooth under Drem’s fingers. A fair-haired woman, laughing as she admonished him.

Sig!

‘Little Drem.’ Keld chuckled, shaking his head. Somehow Drem thought a smile on the man’s face was a rare thing.

‘There’s more to tell you, that I’ve discovered since I wrote the letter to you,’ Drem said, desperate to hear more of his past, of his mam and da, but he knew the knowledge he had was momentous.

‘You said something last night. About Kadoshim, but you were delirious by that point,’ Keld said.

‘Aye, you were off with the faeries.’ Cullen grinned.

Three days and nights of no sleep and then being hanged, again, will do that to a man.

‘And Asger told us of a great bonfire in the Bonefells.’

‘Aye,’ Drem said. ‘What of it?’