Pilgrim worked until noon, but found far less than he had hoped. A handful of shark teeth, their enamel transformed into lustrous mother of pearl, several square segments from the armoured shells of sea turtles, a hand-sized slab bearing a small cluster of the stalked feather dusters of sea flowers, and a small coilshell, its tight spiral ridged with annual growth rings. Still, he could tell the men’s council that there were many more specimens like these to be found in the spoil heaps, that larger fossils like the snakefish and the big coilshell he had given to the tribe could be cut out of the terraces, and with Willow’s help he could explain how much the trade might earn.

As he sat in the shade of the old shed and ate the lunch of smoked eel, beans and honeyed cactus flower that the lodge’s cook had prepared for him, he pictured a work gang picking through rocks in the spoil heaps or wedging out slabs on the terraces, cleaning finds in the refurbished shed, packing them in cases filled with straw and loading them onto maras. The first step 0n a long journey to Concord. He still hoped that the men’s council would grant his request for a modest stipend, so that he could begin the work on sightings of the visitors as soon as possible, but felt a little more optimistic about the fossil business. It might be worthwhile setting it up even if he was given the stipend. It wouldn’t take too long to train people; he could do that after he had completed Master Able’s research, and then he could return to Highwater Reach. Act as an agent overseeing the sale of fossils sent from the territory and take a modest cut of the profits, and when he had written the monograph on the sightings he could publish it in a good edition. Tooled leather boards, the best reed paper, creamy and pleasingly heavy, hand-tinted illustrations laid in …

He entertained himself with these daydreams as he rode out of the foothills towards Blessed’s lodge. He was sunburnt, sore in every muscle and his bad leg ached from hip to ankle, but for the first time since Master Able’s death he was afloat on a balmy tide of unqualified happiness.

9.

Pilgrim rewrote his request for a stipend, sketched a proposal for the fossil trade and amended it after consulting with Willow, and handed both documents to Blessed, who agreed to tender them at the next meeting of the men’s council.

‘You should expect some close questioning,’ Blessed warned him. ‘We know little about fossils and less about these visitors.’

‘I look forward to it,’ Pilgrim said, and meant it. He believed that he had made his submissions as tight and plausible as possible, and relished the opportunity of using everything Master Able had taught him about the art of oratory to persuade the council to support his work.