‘At the moment, Zaquil and I are independent agents,’ Ysbel said. She knew that, in the end, Zaquil served Mother’s interests rather than hers or the bureau’s, but as Mitkos liked to say, sometimes you had make do with what you had.

‘We have been tasked with discovering everything we can about Pilgrim Saltmire’s map,’ Zaquil said.

‘There have been some developments since I wrote to you,’ Goodwill told Ysbel. ‘To begin with, Joyous Hightower claims that he no longer has the map.’

‘When did this happen? Where is it now?’

‘You have to understand that I have never met or spoken with him,’ Goodwill said, with a flash of acid contempt. ‘A person like him having no time for a country bailiff. All of our exchanges involved letters and tapcode messages passed through intermediaries. One or another of the small tribe he pays to help him. I have been trying for some time to raise the legal standing of the map. Hoping that he would do the honourable thing and return it to my family. I had nothing but polite refusals until six days ago, when I received a brief letter saying that the map had been sold to another collector and the matter was closed. I have asked several times about the identity of the new owner, but so far there has been no reply.’

‘I asked my friends in the trade if they had heard anything about the sale,’ Swift said, ‘but had no luck either.’

‘I’ve been given access to the link my people gave to Joyous Hightower, and some leverage that might pry an answer from him,’ Ysbel said, with more confidence than she felt. This was already becoming more complicated than she’d expected or hoped. ‘I’ve also been given permission to try to purchase the map, if I can.’

‘For what purpose?’ Goodwill said, with a wary look.

‘I don’t intend to keep it,’ Ysbel said. ‘After Zaquil has examined it, you can return it to your tribe. And I’ll need your consent to approach Joyous Hightower in the first place, given that it involves the customs and laws of your people.’

‘You wish only to examine it?’ Goodwill said cautiously.

‘To test its authenticity,’ Ysbel said. ‘Find out how old it is, and so on.’

‘Create a high-resolution virtual copy,’ Zaquil said.

‘I don’t know what that means,’ Goodwill said.

‘An image,’ Zaquil said. ‘Zoomable down to the molecular level.’

‘That isn’t helpful.’

‘We’ll make a copy for our archive,’ Ysbel said. ‘You’ll keep the original for yours.’

She watched Goodwill think about this. At last he said, ‘We must swear an oath of mutual aid. You will help me to recover the map and I will share with you what I’ve found, and what Swift has found too.’