As we travelled round the Davidfolk Ground, I’d heard folk laughing at Hiding People and saying they were no better than animals. I’d even heard of guard leaders who rounded them up like bucks, and made them work for them. Certainly the two guards who were with us now couldn’t believe we were wasting our time on these people. They didn’t even try to hide their feelings, sometimes sniggering, sometimes sighing with boredom, and one of them made the other laugh by pulling scary faces at Hiding People who looked in his direction. But Mary insisted we stay with those folk for two whole wakings, while she patiently taught them the True Story, and warned them about false stories they might hear: the stories of the Johnfolk who said that President was a man, and claimed that Gela had chosen John over David, and the so-called Secret Story, which women whispered because they didn’t dare speak such nonsense out loud.

Their own stories, though, she listened to carefully and with so much respect that I felt ashamed for wanting to laugh at them.

‘Who knows?’ she told them. ‘You may well be right about some of this stuff. But the thing you’ve got to remember is that there are two kinds of life in Eden. There’s the life that came up from the warmth of Underworld, like trees and bats and bucks and leopards, and there’s the kind that came down from the stars, which is us human beings. Maybe there is a Great Mother in Underworld – I don’t know – but if so, she’s not our mother, she’s mother of the bats and leopards.’

She drew a circle on the ground. ‘This is the way back to Earth,’ she said. ‘It’s all you need. You mustn’t step inside it until you’re called, but draw a circle like this at the end of every waking, and you’ll be able to go to sleep knowing that your true home is near near, close enough for your true Mother to whisper to you and for you to hear.’

When we were on our way again, and the Hiding People were out of hearing distance, I asked Mary how come she’d paid so much attention to their strange stories.