Mitkos Grimsson’s house was up in the hills on the eastern side of Ogres Grave. It was early evening, dry and warm. The lights of the town simmering in the strip of flat land stretched along the bay’s shore, insects scratching and creaking in the scrub slope below the pounded-dirt terrace where Ysbel and Mitkos sat while Mitkos’s partner pottered about inside, getting their two children, boys aged six and eight, ready for bed. Ysbel worked her way through a bowl of rice and flaked fish left over from the family’s supper and, having warned him that everything was confidential, for his ears only, told Mitkos about the debacle in Concord and her adventures in bear country.

She had rehearsed the story and tried to keep it as concise as possible, but it still took a while to tell.

‘Trina Mersdaughter was involved in those wrongful deaths because of the map,’ Mitkos said, squinting off into the dusk, trying to make sense of it. ‘And she wanted to get hold of it because she thought it was relevant to the songs of a talking bear.’

‘When you put it like that, it does sound slightly fantastical.’

‘You still don’t know what happened to the map. Instead, you’ve found some kind of secret project. A collaboration with the natives. And the woman and this talking bear, excuse me, articulate bear, who told you about it have walked off into deepest bear country.’

‘Raia knows that she’ll be in trouble for keeping this quiet. And she wanted to protect Seven. Didn’t want him to become a laboratory subject.’

‘Speaking of trouble, there’s a notice out for your detention. The natives have made a formal complaint about your spelunking in the Library of All People.’

‘Iryn Moonsdaughter told me that she can make it go away.’ Best not to tell Mitkos that, by telling him about Seven and the camp, she had already violated one of Iryn Moonsdaughter’s conditions for providing that help.

‘You’ve already talked to her, then.’

‘I’ve been fully debriefed,’ Ysbel said. ‘About the camp, and the bear, and everything that happened in Concord. And now I’m ready to move on to the next stage of the investigation.’

She’d had to tell Iryn Moonsdaughter everything; the woman had already known about her meeting with Seven. Zaquil’s purloined security bot had been loitering high overhead, out of range of Raia’s bots, while the sliver of the helper, having surreptitiously migrated from Ysbel’s bot network to her link, had made a clandestine audio recording. It had been a very thorough betrayal. She’d had to use a security tool to purge and reset her link, and still wasn’t completely certain that it had removed every trace of the little spy.

‘What about your native friend?’ Mitkos said. ‘Is he still involved with the investigation? Are you still involved with him?’