‘Much of our lost civilisation was brutal and barbaric, yes. But not all. I have studied my heritage, such as it is. You would do well to study yours, little one.’

After a small, uncomfortable silence Raia asked Seven to tell the rest of his story.

‘There’s not much to tell,’ Seven said. ‘I met the old female in spring and cared for her as best as I could, but she died soon after the snows came. Knowing no better, I left her body in a high place, so that the crows could find her and return her to the Mother, and after a hard winter alone I drifted further north, looking for a place where I could make my home. It was not easy. I would settle somewhere and sooner or later one of my wild cousins would challenge me and I would have to move on. I have many fine qualities, but fighting is not one of them, and all of my attempts to befriend other bears ended in failure and flight. I was still wandering, homeless and alone, when I found Raia.’

‘He spent most of last summer stalking me before he could be certain that I was harmless,’ Raia said.

‘You can’t blame me for being cautious,’ Seven said. ‘And I shall always treasure the look you gave me when I got up the nerve to step out of the shadows and spoke to you.’

‘The look of someone trying to restart her heart,’ Raia said, smiling.

She told Ysbel and Goodwill that Seven had found her towards the end of last year’s fieldwork season, and had made himself known to her again after she’d returned to the north-west coast, in spring. They had been together ever since, and she had learned more about feral bear culture from him than from all of her fieldwork.

‘I could already read Old Bear,’ she said, ‘having studied some of the old texts. But Seven taught me the rudimentary patois of their descendants, and the meanings of many of the markings they left on trees and rocks, and much else besides. In return, I promised to help him try to free his brothers and sisters. Seven couldn’t point to the camp on a map, but gave me a good description of the area around it. The river close by and the shape of its course, the mountain peaks to the west, and so on.’

‘The taste of river water, and the smell of the air in different seasons,’ Seven said. ‘When snow fell, and when it melted. The sounds of the forest and the shapes the clouds made.’