Florent-Claude came bustling back with a paper in his hand. “Very well. Now, in English if you will! Of what five things is St. Jathe patron?” He had a strong accent in English, but understood the pronunciation better than many Francophones.

Pico looked at me, frowning. He must have understood the name. St. Jathe was clearly Jathery. I’d heard the list from Hilfa, such a strange set of things. And a riddle in English would need a rhyming answer. “Liberty and changing names, wisdom, tricks and riddle games,” I said. It seemed almost insultingly easy, but it could only be answered by somebody who spoke English and had talked to Saeli about religion—which meant me, or perhaps Hermes.

“Well done! So here is your paper, but you will find in it another riddle, I think,” Florent-Claude said, handing it over. It had the same mix of characters as Pico’s. I tucked it away with the other.

Saying goodbye took a long time, though we tried to hurry. We had to promise to give his love to Athene, and to call in if we were ever passing again. As we walked, Pico translated the conversation for Sokrates and then they both insisted that I explain the riddle. We had to walk all the way to the end of the lawn and wave and then make our way behind the screen of chestnuts, all with their spring candles, before we could step out of time and back to the Republic.

15. Jason

15

JASON

Pytheas had got up from his chair and was looming over Jathery. He had grown so tall that his head almost touched the ceiling of Hilfa’s little house. “Was it you all the time?” he asked, and although his voice was quiet it made the hair stand up on my neck. “Was it you who came and interrupted me?”

“Yes,” Jathery said, not sounding at all intimidated. Gla voice was clear and pure, like a child’s voice singing, but rich and full-bodied.

“You lied to me about having a message from Father?”

“Would you have left your new sun if I’d come to you as myself and told you Athene was missing?” Gla question sounded entirely reasonable, and made me wonder whether Pytheas would have.

“Yes,” Pytheas said, emphatically but petulantly. He glared down at Jathery. “Why does nobody trust me to take any reasonable action without tricking me into it?”

They both disappeared. I blinked.