Mary rode down into Tall Tree Valley, rode in under those huge trees with those long trunks they need to keep their lanterns above the snow when it falls, as it quite often does, right down into the bottom of the valley. She made her way to the Tall Tree cluster – it’s not far from the place where the path comes down – and rode in among those strange shelters, different from any other shelters I’ve seen, with their thick stone walls and their thick strong wooden roofs built to bear the weight of heavy snow. She found the cluster all swollen up, like Davidstand had been, and like Old Family cluster in Circle Valley was now, with scared people from different parts of the Davidfolk Ground who’d come there to escape the Johnfolk. No one knew how such a small place would be able to feed everyone. No one had a plan as to what to do next. But Mary went to the circle of stones in middle of the cluster – Wise Mehmet had laid it out with his own hands after he took Tall Tree Valley back into True Family – and she put on a show.

She told the people that of course they were frightened, of course they were worried about the Johnfolk. We all knew how cruel they were, we all knew how they forced people to work in holes in the ground, we all knew how they made their low people listen to a false Gela, who told them wicked lies with Gela’s stolen ring on her finger.

‘But you must remember that Mother Gela’s on our side,’ Mary told them. And she reminded them that, no matter how hard things became for them, if they only remembered that, everything would work out for them in the end. Because Gela was watching them from far off Earth with all the love that a mother has for her children. She was watching them, and she was keeping their home ready for them. And one waking they would all find their way there, just so long as they kept their hearts open to the Mother of us all.

‘That’s all she asks of you,’ Mary told them. ‘That you keep your heart open, so she’ll be able to reach out to you and guide you home.’