Jolaine set it down again. Should she share her discovery with Philemot? Confound it all, why not? She went to her desk and brought over her find and laid it beside Philemot’s. With trembling hands she brought the two halves together – to make a complete lotos.

‘Extraordinary,’ whispered Philemot.

‘And what is more,’ Jolaine said, ‘I know exactly where in the Undercity these belong.’ She took up her notebook and showed Philemot the sketches of the mosaic pavement.

‘This should fit at the centre of the mosaic. The dragonflies can then be seen to fly into the lotos – and out of it again.’

‘We must put it back in its rightful place!’ Philemot said.

‘The Undercity is forbidden, remember? Especially to meddling ex-Antiquarians.’

‘But what is its precise significance? Decorative or ritual? What manner of rites were held in the chamber where you found it?’

Jolaine gave the young man a long, appraising look. His eagerness reminded her of a certain Jolaine Tradescar at exactly the same age: irrepressibly curious, incessantly hungry for knowledge. Perhaps she had misjudged Theophil Philemot.

‘Sit down,’ she said. ‘Now… where shall we start?’

‘The Priestess will not see you, Dame Tradescar.’ The elderly Priest made to close the door of the Priesthouse. ‘Not today or any day.’

‘But I have important information.’

‘We’ve troubles enough of our own… and we have only you to thank for them.’

‘Then please at least give her this note – and see that she reads it. I’ll be feeding the pigeons in the forecourt if she cares to speak with me.’

The Priest hesitated then put out his palsied hand to take Dame Tradescar’s letter.

She went back down the steps and took a paper of bread crusts from her bag. Soon the pigeons had come fluttering down from the Temple pediment to peck at the crumbs. She sat down, humming, and centred her attention on the pigeons.

‘Dame Tradescar.’

Jolaine rose to see a veiled figure beckoning to her from the colonnade. She approached.

‘You used to call me Jolaine when we were at school, Elysie. Or was that in another existence?’

‘These transcriptions.’ The Priestess ignored the question, holding out the letter Jolaine had written. ‘Are they authentic?’

‘You call my scholarship into question? Of course they’re authentic. Intriguing, aren’t they?’

‘Tell me more about this Lotos Priestess. The one you call Songspinner.’

‘The role of the Songspinner, as I understand it, was to be a living channel between two worlds: this world and the next. The Lotos Priestess – or Princess – stood at the doorway between life and death.’

‘A kind of shamaness?’

‘A Priestess, gifted with the ability to hear the voices of the spirit world.’

‘And these spirits – Eä-Endil – they came through the Songspinner to guide the souls of the dead to the light?’

‘I can only interpret this to be the origin of our present-day ceremonies. The dragonflies have become merely a symbol.’