He turned at the liquid voice, to see a woman now seated on the pool’s edge. She looked to be no more than twenty, her hair copper-gold and long. A heart-shaped face, pale, the eyes a light grey. She was not looking at him, her languid gaze on the pool’s unmarred surface instead. ‘Although,’ she added, with a faint smile, ‘you have done well to hide your Liosan traits.’

‘We are skilled in such things, Queen of Dreams.’

She nodded, still not meeting his eyes. ‘As are all the Tiste. Anomander once spent almost two centuries in the guise of a royal bodyguard . . . human, in the manner you have achieved.’

‘Mistress,’ L’oric said, ‘my father—’

‘Sleeps. We all long ago made our choices, L’oric. Behind us, our paths stretch, long and worn deep. There is bitter pathos in the prospect of retracing them. Yet, for those of us who remain ... awake, it seems we do nothing but just that. An endless retracing of paths, yet each step we take is forward, for the path has proved itself to be a circle. Yet – and here is the true pathos – the knowledge never slows our steps.’

‘“Wide-eyed stupid”, the Malazans say.’

‘Somewhat rough-edged, but accurate enough,’ she replied. She reached a long-fingered hand down to the water.

L’oric watched it vanish beneath the surface, but it was the scene around them that seemed to waken, a faint turbulence, the hint of ripples. ‘Queen of Dreams, Kurald Thyrllan has lost its protector.’

‘Yes. Tellann and Thyr were ever close, and now more than ever.’

A strange statement... that he would have to think on later. ‘I cannot do it alone—’

‘No, you cannot. Your own path is about to become fraught, L’oric. And so you have come to me, in the hopes that I will find a suitable ... protector.’

‘Yes.’

‘Your desperation urges you to trust ... where no trust has been earned—’

‘You were my father’s friend!’

‘Friend? L’oric, we were too powerful to know friendship. Our endeavours far too fierce. Our war was with chaos itself, and, at times, with each other. We battled to shape all that would follow. And some of us lost that battle. Do not misapprehend, I held no deep enmity for your father. Rather, he was as unfathomable as the rest of us – a bemusement we all shared, perhaps the only thing we shared.’

‘You will not help?’

‘I did not say that.’

He waited.

She continued holding her hand beneath the pool’s placid surface, had yet to lift her head and meet his eyes. ‘This will take some time,’ she murmured. ‘The present ... vulnerability ... will exist in the interval. I have someone in mind, but the shaping towards the opportunity remains distant. Nor do I think my choice will please you. In the meantime...’

‘Yes?’

She shrugged. ‘We had best hope that potentially interested entities remain suitably distracted.’