‘Strange how important he once seemed,’ Ysbel said. ‘The map, too. When we started out, we could never have imagined we’d end up where we did.’

‘Perhaps it was where we had always been heading, your people and mine,’ Goodwill said.

Ysbel, discomfited by his coolness, said, ‘Congratulations on your new position, by the way. How’s that going?’

‘Easier than I thought it might. Perhaps because our independence was always inevitable.’

‘One people, two roads,’ Ysbel said. It was the slogan of the independence movement.

‘We want only to be able to decide our own direction,’ Goodwill said.

‘We’re also having to rethink everything we thought we knew, and where we’re going,’ Ysbel said, and realised at once that it sounded like a trite attempt to claim a portion of victimhood.

There was a short silence as she and Goodwill studied the map, thinking their different thoughts.

At last, he said, ‘Of course, it’s likely that independence means we will have to assume responsibility for the bears. The bears in bear country.’

‘What will you do with them?’

‘I think that in the end that must be the choice of the articulate bears. Meanwhile, we will maintain the border as best we can. As much for the bears’ protection as ours.’

‘I hope we can help, if help is needed,’ Ysbel said.

‘You tried your best,’ Goodwill said. ‘When things are settled, in five years or ten, however long it takes, my people and yours may be able to talk about reaching an accommodation. A new relationship. And then, perhaps, we’ll be able to meet again.’

Ysbel said that she looked forward to it, and was glad that they could part on a hopeful note.

Shortly afterwards, when the amendments to the treaty were agreed and the schedule for quitting the mainland was drawn up, she reached out to Trina Mersdaughter, discovered that Raia had not yet made contact and offered to help Trina look for her partner and the articulate bear, Seven.

They’d used satellite maps to pinpoint the spot where Raia had taken Ysbel and Goodwill to meet Seven, and reached it shortly before noon. After checking the locations of nearby bears and glassing the trees along the river’s edge, they beached the dinghy and strapped on their packs and set off. They hiked through the forest for the rest of the day, making a wide half-circle to the north to avoid the convergence of two bears, a little later hearing the bellowing roar of a challenge somewhere in the trees below them. A reminder of the unreasoning violence of the apex predators of this wilderness.