‘Hi. Yeah. That’s me.’

‘But I LOVE you. I mean, you pretty much made me who I am! You probably won’t remember me of course, but my God, you changed my life. Watching you on Top of the Pops – that was what made me decide to be a musician. I mean, fucking hell, pal! Clio Campbell! And you’re here! I’m Shiv – Siobhan – and I’m, like, your biggest fan ever.’

Clio smiled down at her.

‘I know who you are, darlin.’

‘No, no, but we’ve met! We’ve met before! I went to see you on tour a couple of years ago when you played my town. Ullapool. Fucking Ullapool. We got to speak to you for ages afterwards and I just – oh my God. You were the only act worthwhile who ever came to us. Oh my God, it meant so much.’

‘I do remember. Of course I remember that. Wee Siobhan. And now you’re Shiv West? I didn’t make the connection. Look at you!’

Snorting and snuffling from the cubicle.

‘It’s like, what are you doing in here anyway? Oh my God, you have to come and sit with us! You’re the only person in here I know. I need to hear a voice from home. Come here, come here, we’ll have a bit of this—’ She waggled the origami wrap in Clio’s face, then banged on the cubicle door. ‘Hiya, pal! Could you get out of there please? Other people need to use the facilities!’

Clio would only have been twenty-eight at the time, but just then, even squatting to do a line off a toilet seat with her curls thrown back to one side, she seemed to Siobhan to be some sort of ancient being, a sentinel, her very presence there a sign from the old gods. Her hand, when Siobhan reached for it to guide her to their table, wondering momentarily if she was allowed to touch her, was cold and smooth.

‘Guys guys guys, you will not believe this! This is Clio – she’s, like, the reason we started the band. She did this amazing song, “Rise Up”, a load of years ago, when I was tiny, and it was like the first single I ever bought, and then she played a gig in our town and you’ve got to understand, this was a tiny town. I mean, nobody ever came to our town. Nobody who wasn’t a fucking folkie in a beard, yeah? And I heard her play that night and that’s when I realized it properly, like I started the band the next week. So she’s going to join us for the night. Budge up! Budge up, boys! Make way for an actual living legend, eh?’

She pushed at the air around the men impatiently until they’d shifted. Clio had glanced at one of the journalists, who was staring straight at his pint.