‘I can’t tell you about Iryn Moonsdaughter’s plans because I am not employed by her, or anyone else in Special Operations.’

‘Then why are you here? To gloat?’

‘I serve a higher authority,’ Zaquil said, and his image froze.

Ysbel was afraid that someone in Special Operations had discovered that he was inside her bot network and had shut it down, but then a tall woman in a cloak as blue as the ocean stepped through him, and a freezing thrill pierced her from head to foot.

‘Your relationship with the bailiff has proved to be more useful than I’d hoped, Ysbel Moonsdaughter,’ Mother said.

Ysbel had to suck spit into her mouth before she could speak. ‘Is that why I have been summoned to Concord?’

There was no lag in Mother’s reply; this must be a fragment or aspect rather than the real thing, in her fastness on the Moon. Even so, the manifestation was amazing and terrifying.

‘It is clear to me now that the disappearance of the map, and the camp where the articulate bear was raised, are part of the same conspiracy,’ she said. ‘A secret collusion with natives, hidden from me and from the Authority and its agencies. It is deep, child, very deep and very dark, and it threatens to destroy the relationship between humans and natives, and plans for greater unity. People have broken the terms of the treaty, acted without the Authority’s consent or my blessing and created a clandestine network. A parasitic growth that must be rooted out.’

Ysbel thought at once of Kirder Halmasdaughter. ‘Do you know who these people are?’

‘Things are kept from me,’ Mother said. ‘More and more, I have been excluded from the affairs of my children. Even those who serve me directly. But the plot you have helped to uncover is proof that they still need me. This little expedition of yours may be unsanctioned, but I believe that it is proof of your dedication. Am I right to think that, child? Are you trying to serve me as best you can?’

‘I’m not sure if I’ve found anything useful,’ Ysbel said carefully. ‘Nothing that you didn’t already know.’

‘I believe that Iryn Moonsdaughter has summoned you to Concord because she believes that your friend the bailiff has found something of interest, and wants you to find him and find out what he knows. Agree to help her, learn everything you can about her plans and what she knows about the map and the camp, and afterwards we will talk again,’ Mother said, and her avatar and Zaquil’s frozen image blinked out.