‘And to get rich and powerful in the process. Forget it, as I said. There’s no way anybody would pay you for your advice. It’s best if you can persuade them to forget you’re a Northlander at all. Why do you think I dress in this repulsive purple? Is there anything you can do? I mean, a specific skill. Weaving, knitting, lace-making, cooking – by the mothers, anything, women do many jobs in Northland, brick-making, growstone-mixing!’

‘I am an Annid, from a family of Annids. I was ten years old before I had to lace up my own shoes.’

She meant to make him laugh. He returned her look, stony-faced. ‘Your children, then. How old?’

‘Twins, just sixteen now. A boy and a girl. He, Nelo, is a promising artist, in the new deep-look style—’

‘How big is he?’

‘What?’

‘Physically. Tall, short, thin, strong . . .’

‘Shorter than me. Quite heavily built. Strong, if he puts his mind to it. But he has a gentle spirit which—’

‘He may find work on the labour details. The sewage system, for instance – constantly clogging up. And corpse details when the plagues come. Or the farms.’

‘No Northlander farms.’

‘They do here. Now, the girl?’

‘Alxa. She’s a bright, independent young woman. Stronger than me, I think. She has a facility for languages. She learned Carthaginian on the journey.’

‘A translator, then? That might have possibilities. Not useful for me, mind you, I have all the staff I need. Good-looking?’

She flared. ‘Why do you ask that?’

‘Because one role Northlander women are popular for here is as companions. Oh, don’t look at me so, Cousin. It doesn’t have to be – like that. But you can imagine how it gives a Carthaginian pleasure to order round a pretty, stuck-up Northlander, as they see it.’

She suppressed her anger. ‘I am reluctant to rely on the labour of my children. They are too young.’

‘This isn’t Northland,’ he said firmly. ‘You are far from home. Nobody wants you here, frankly. The quicker you absorb that fact the better. And the sooner you learn that your preferences are irrelevant—’

‘Help us,’ she said bluntly.

He sat back in his chair, sighed, and rubbed his face. ‘Rina, Rina. I have nothing for you.’

‘You have room. Food, warmth. At least let us stay for a few days. Until we can find work, get established somehow. I will pay you back.’

He laughed. ‘What, with Northland scrip?’

‘With the money I, we, will earn when we find jobs.’

‘Impossible. Believe me, with the kind of jobs you’ll be taking you won’t be paying down loans. Look, Rina, I have my own position in society here to think of. If I start taking in strays and nestspills—’

‘You are a Northlander.’

‘Not any more,’ he said coldly. ‘And since you abandoned the place to come here, neither are you.’