Later, Ysbel called up Raia Karysdaughter’s published work – detailed maps of bear territories, studies of their mating rituals and the raising and dispersal of their cubs – but couldn’t figure out how any of this might be connected with the old map. And if this had been about promoting her partner’s work, why had Trina refused to talk about it? Ysbel knew that she was missing something, but there didn’t seem to be any point in re-interviewing Trina or reaching out to her partner. The woman would be defensive, given what had happened to Trina, and might file a complaint. And Ysbel couldn’t reach out to Joyous Hightower and ask to examine the map, either: it would be a serious breach of protocol, and if Mitkos or anyone else found out about it she’d end up in more trouble than Trina Mersdaughter.

Well, perhaps it wasn’t important. Perhaps she was wrong to expect that this kind of investigation would be as bloodlessly neat as her work in the Bureau of Data Analysis, where the causes of aberrations and errors could always be tracked down and corrected. Maybe Ting was right, and the attempt to acquire the map had been part of a scheme to win more funding for an obscure section of Survey and Surveillance; part of the endless inter-agency competition for limited resources. Maybe Trina Mersdaughter had taken her contest with Joyous Hightower too personally, and overstepped the mark. Maybe motivations weren’t important, only actions and outcomes. Maybe all that mattered was that the deaths of Clemency and Mercy had been accounted for, and restitution had been made. For a short while, Ysbel tried her best to forget about it all over again. And then the bailiff, Goodwill Saltmire, sent her a letter.

5.

It was a single sheet of paper cunningly folded in the native style, and when Ysbel unpicked it a photograph fell out. She spent the next two days immersed in background research, then took the letter and the photograph and her findings to her boss.

The photograph was a circular image printed in various shades of blue dye on coarse paper, centred on a small, round-headed figure standing next to a crude image of two flat-topped pyramids, clutching a staff or spear tipped with what might be flames or a bolt of lightning. It was the reason why Trina Mersdaughter had wanted so badly to win access to the map, according to Goodwill Saltmire. The cause of all the trouble.

‘So who’s this little guy?’ Mitkos said, after Ysbel had explained about the map, and Solomon Firststar’s claim that it was a copy of a bear carving. ‘Some kind of bear demon?’

‘Goodwill says it is a visitor,’ Ysbel said.

‘What kind of visitor?’

‘Our kind. One of us.’

‘How could that be, if this is from an old bear carving?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Just give me the essential facts,’ Mitkos said.