‘But I would miss you,’ I said as the two of us climbed the rise, heading toward the little copse. ‘Who else would listen to my ramblings with such forbearance?’ Donagan could no longer be asked to do so. I felt very much alone.

Today should have been a triumph. The matter of Branoc had been troubling me; I had doubted my own ability to deal with it wisely and fairly. But everyone except Branoc himself had seemed well satisfied with both judgement and sentence. ‘Perhaps,’ I said to the little dog, ‘it’s the nature of his crime. In such a terrible matter, there can be no real resolution. Yes, he was found guilty, and he will pay a penalty. But what payment could truly compensate for what he did? He’s blighted the life of that young woman. All very well to haul a man up before a council and sentence him to debt-bondage. Tidy him away, as it were. But the young woman he wronged can’t be tidied away. She shouldn’t be, Bramble. The whole community should be brought to account for the way they misjudged her.’

Bramble had nothing to say on the matter, but as she looked up at me I imagined I saw understanding in her eyes.

I had said this, of course. I had made a statement at the council about the way we had all failed Ness, and how we needed to make sure such a thing never happened again. And folk had nodded and murmured and apparently agreed. ‘But the truth is,’ I told Bramble, ‘time passes, and people forget. And before we know it, another innocent is wronged, and another brave person steps up to tell folk something has gone awry, and we don’t listen. We don’t act until it’s almost too late. Humankind can be sorely lacking in wisdom and compassion, Bramble. Indeed, we can be blind fools.’

We reached the burial ground. Dusk was near and the air was bitterly cold. When I sat down on the bench, Bramble pressed close to my ankles, shivering. I scooped her up and held her in my arms, under my cloak.

The day had wearied me, and I found myself dreading the prospect of supper and the need to pretend before the guests that there was nothing amiss between Flidais and me. Her comments at the council, on the matter of Ness’s character, had only served to deepen my unease about the future. ‘She’ll be queen one day, Bramble. These folk look up to her. Or should. But I’m starting to wonder if she’ll ever be worthy of that. I don’t know if she has it in her to change.’