As for the rest of the gold he’d found with the eggs? It was all gone. Joe had taken it to Tarya and the duke, and begged them to divide it equally among the city folk, so everyone could rebuild their homes. They’d all worked so hard, everyone pulling together in those first desperate days when food was scarce and the spring water wells were the most precious resources on the island.

Now he glanced around him at the streets full of people and life again. The houses had new shutters, freshly painted in bright colours, all the buildings scrubbed clean, inside and out.

‘Look, it’s Joe and Ren!’ a small boy shouted in excitement.

Joe waved, feeling shy, still not used to the way he was recognised now, but Ren purred comfortingly, and he knew it was all worth it to have her in his life.

Then they were arriving at the marketplace for the festival finale. The drumming sounded louder here, echoing off the sides of the surrounding buildings. Joe found a sunny spot at the side for Ren to bask in.

A group of ten children, dressed in the different colours of each section, came forward and performed a dance with great concentration and solemnity that told the story of the eruption and the flood and the long, slow clean-up.

After the applause died down, Duke Vigo stepped forward, smiling.

For a moment, Joe was taken back to the day of the hatching ceremony, and a shudder of horror pulsed through 321him as he remembered what he’d done and said. He made himself take slow calming breaths: that was before he’d changed. That was before Ren.

She moved towards him, wrapping her long neck around his shoulders, and he leaned on her gratefully. The huge bulk of her next to him, the gleam of her scales, her dazzling beauty, this told Joe how far he’d come. That awful day had begun his journey here. Each painful step had been worth it.

‘Friends,’ Vigo was saying, ‘I hope you’re enjoying the first festival of Arcosi. My daughter is!’ A huge cheer went up, for Tarya at his side, wearing baby Serina in a sling to face the crowd. The little girl’s huge brown eyes were round and wide. She flapped her arms and squeaked in excitement, her wispy black hair dancing in the breeze. ‘I won’t speak for long,’ Vigo said. ‘I just want to say how proud I am of the way we worked together …’

Joe half-listened to the speech, focusing instead on Winter, a few steps away. The way she was smiling at him made his cheeks warm.

Next, it was time for the feast. Everyone had brought their favourite dishes down to the marketplace, all striving to outdo each other. Joe’s mother and Matteo had both been cooking for days.

They’d all mourned Nestan, this past year. When they returned home, they’d given him a proper Norlander funeral, with full honours, though the burning ship was empty this time, while Nestan rested in peace under his olive trees. Josi had found solace in her garden and her cooking, and in her new grandchild.322