It’s a yes to most of that. I tell him what I’ve already told Gormán about not wanting to stay up here overnight but being happy to ride to and fro. And needing one of their horses, because Scannal has to have Sturdy for his cart. Remind him about not coming up when the weather’s bad. Can’t say about autumn, need to see the job first. What exactly is it he’s building?

They show me, up around the far side of the house, past their barn and stables. A ruin of something. Master Tóla wants it rebuilt. A heartwood house, it’s called.

I walk all around it. It’s biggish. It’s three times the size of our cottage, which is the only bit of building I’ve done more or less on my own, though I’ve helped with plenty of others. I’m guessing from the wreck of it that the walls were stone at the base. There’d be wooden posts and beams, maybe wattle and mud up top. What’s left here is mostly broken stone, rubble, a few rotten old bits of wood.

‘Doesn’t look too hard,’ I say. ‘You’d need a few helpers, though. What is it, a grand hall for councils and the like?’ Never heard of a heartwood house.

‘The purpose does not matter,’ says Master Tóla. ‘The significant part of this, the challenge, is the manner in which it is constructed. For the wooden parts of the house, every kind of timber in the forest must be used.’

I don’t say a word. Getting used to strange things; must be living with Blackthorn does that.

‘There are rules for the laying of the stones; for the fashioning of the posts and beams; for the manner of thatching. Rules that must be adhered to in every particular.’

Sounds as if he’s fussy. Maybe explains why the job didn’t get finished last time. Not sure I’m so keen to do it after all. Though the pay Gormán mentioned is a tidy sum, and I’ve got plans for how to use it, plans I’m not telling Blackthorn yet.

‘These rules,’ I say, ‘are they written down somewhere? Be easy to make a mistake. Who’s going to be in charge?’ Not him, the master, I’m guessing; doesn’t look like the kind of man who gets his hands dirty. And not Gormán, who’s told me already that he’ll only be helping out when he can.