Kilp raised his eyebrows and opened another oyster, tipping the shell back to let the meat inside slip down his throat. He tossed the shell on his plate and looked at Jaciel.

‘Lady Jaciel? I thought this matter was agreed?’

‘Not quite,’ replied Jaciel smoothly. She looked at her daughter, but Clariel couldn’t tell what she was thinking. ‘Clariel and I have many matters we must talk about. Let us discuss other things. Your son, Aronzo’s work, perhaps. I would like to see his masterwork, if I may.’

‘It is not quite ready, I regret,’ said Aronzo. ‘A matter of some minor polishing remains, and there is the question of etiquette, that only the assayers should …’

‘That doesn’t matter,’ said Kilp. He turned to the servant behind him and snapped, ‘Fetch Lord Aronzo’s goblet from the workshop.’

‘Father, it’s really not …’ Aronzo started to protest, but Kilp merely looked at him. The young man stopped, picked up one of his goblets instead and took a hefty swallow.

‘The King is well, you say,’ said Kilp, after a minute of awkward silence, though at least Jaciel and Harven had started eating.

‘He seemed well enough, though very old,’ said Clariel. ‘He was very kind to give me … us … the salt cellar.’

Kilp grunted, but did not add anything else. He continued to look at Clariel as he ate, until she became uncomfortable and resorted to helping herself to a portion of eel. She pushed this around on her plate, cutting it into smaller and smaller sections with a knife that was considerably blunter than she thought it should be. She also couldn’t hold it tight enough, because the wound on her palm still hurt.

‘You do not intend to be a goldsmith yourself, do you, Lady Clariel?’ asked Aronzo blandly, as if they had just met. ‘What are your plans for your future?’

‘I have not been in Belisaere very long, Lord Aronzo,’ said Clariel. ‘I am still assaying the true value of many things here. Sometimes there is only the thinnest layer of gold upon the lead.’

‘That’s true,’ said Harven. ‘Remember those counterfeit bezants from that gang in Navis? They skimped on the leaf so much the coins could hardly pass between two hands before it came off.’

‘True coin is an ornament of the state,’ said Kilp pontifically. ‘And yet another responsibility of we Goldsmiths. Ah, here we are!’

His exclamation was for the arrival of Aronzo’s masterwork, which if passed by the guild examiners, would allow him to become a full member of the guild. It was a goblet, carried in the white-gloved hands of the cloth-of-gold-clad major-domo, self-evidently a much more senior servant than the man sent to fetch it, who could not be trusted with an item of such value.