‘Like the map, it suggests a relationship between your people and the bears,’ Swift said, popping a nut coated in burnt sugar into his mouth.

Ysbel, in a moment of floating estrangement, saw how different yet strangely human his hands were: the narrow, leathery palms, the blunt fingers and crooked thumb.

‘Swift will be our witness,’ Goodwill said.

The bookseller wasn’t an independent actor, since his discovery was part of the bargain, but Ysbel decided to trust in the natives’ ingrained sense of honour. Besides, she reckoned that she had the better part of the deal. She would learn what Goodwill and Swift had found, and still might be able to find and purchase the map without needing their help.

‘Why not?’ she said, and clasped her hands over her heart and used the native form of words to swear that she would use all the resources she possessed to help Goodwill Saltmire as best she could.

‘Your turn,’ she told Goodwill.

He swore too, looking straight at her.

‘Now tell me everything,’ Ysbel said.

‘I’ll begin with a small mystery that may also give us some leverage with Joyous Hightower,’ Goodwill said. ‘I told you in my letter that my tribe decided against helping me to assert lawful ownership of the map. As did one of my cousins, who serves as chief clerk to one of the delegates of the Committee of the Five Hundred. While I was searching for evidence that might change their minds, I looked into Joyous Hightower’s finances. I wondered if he had been involved in any other unofficial auctions, the purchase of other artefacts of dubious provenance, and so on. Anything that might weaken his claim over the map. I found something else instead: he has a majority share in a syndicate that sponsors research into bear history. Paying for exploration and excavation of ruins, giving grants to scholars, donating pieces to the Library of All People, and so on. All very respectable – it won him a place on the Library’s council.’

‘But I guess you found something that wasn’t so respectable,’ Ysbel said.