‘I’ll fix it up.’ In the back of my head is wretched Conmael – where was he while the house he sent us to was burning to the ground? I bet he could have used his magic to make it rain, or to turn the flames into butterflies or falling leaves. But he didn’t. And I bet he could make the house new again, the way it was before, with all our things in it, even. If he popped up right now and offered, I’d say, Bit late, aren’t you? Forget helping, I’ll do it myself.

‘A lot of work,’ says Donagan. ‘Prince Oran will provide building supplies. The season won’t be on your side.’

‘Thank you. Won’t refuse supplies if you can spare them. I can do the work.’ Seems to me a good idea to accept what’s offered before Blackthorn gets the chance to say no.

That’s when Fraoch comes up and says there’s room for Blackthorn and me to sleep at the smithy because Emer’s staying over at Silverlake to look after her friend. Then Scannal’s here offering to bring his horses and cart in the morning to help clear the rubble, and Iobhar says he can send a couple of the lads from the brewery to do some of the heavy jobs, and Deaman tells me he’s got some lengths of good oak that I can have in return for some work later on. The woman from the weaving workshop – Luach, that’s her name – says she’ll look out some blankets and clothing from her stores, and we’re not to think about paying for them. At some point Blackthorn gets up and comes over, quiet as a mouse, to stand beside me listening, or I think she’s listening, but she’s so still it feels as if she’s not really there.

What I want, and what I know she’d want, is for the two of us to stay here by Dreamer’s Wood. We could sleep in the outhouse. Cook over a campfire, wash in cold water, live the way we did on the road. Staying in Winterfalls, among folk, that’s going to be hard for both of us, her more than me. But I see the sense in it. Season’s well into the dark now, sure to be storms, gales, bucketing rain. And there’s lots of folk wanting to help us. Doesn’t feel right to say no to them. Besides, how can Blackthorn go on being a healer if she’s out here with nothing but the clothes on her back?