She gave a sigh. ‘I wasn’t going to tell you,’ she said. ‘But your mother and I – we’ve been talking. And we’ve decided – well, she’s decided – that maybe it’s time for me to move out.’

‘Move out?’ I said.

‘Winds change, Nanou.’ And that was so close to what Maman might have said that it took me right back to Les Laveuses, and that wind, and the Kindly Ones. But this time I wasn’t remembering. I was thinking about Ehecatl, the Changing Wind, and I was seeing things as they would be if Zozie left us: her room deserted, dust on the floor, everything just ordinary again, just a little chocolate shop with nothing special any more—

‘You can’t,’ I said wildly. ‘We need you here.’

She shook her head. ‘You needed me. But look at you now – business is good, you’ve got lots of friends. You don’t need me any more. As for me – I have to move on. Ride that wind to wherever it goes.’

A horrible thought came to me. ‘This is about me, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘It’s about what we’ve been doing here. Our lessons, and the peg-dolls, and everything. She’s afraid that if you stay there’ll be another Accident—’

Zozie shrugged. ‘I won’t lie to you. But I didn’t think she’d be so jealous—’

Jealous? Maman?

‘Well, of course,’ said Zozie. ‘Remember, she used to be like us once. Free to go wherever she liked. But now she’s got other responsibilities. She can’t just do what she wants any more. And whenever she looks at you now, Nanou – well, maybe it just reminds her too much of everything she’s had to give up.’

‘But that’s not fair!’

Zozie smiled. ‘No one said it was fair,’ she said. ‘It’s about control. You’re growing up. You’re developing skills. You’re growing beyond your mother’s authority. It makes her anxious; makes her scared. She thinks I’m taking you away from her, giving you things she can’t give you herself. And that’s why I have to leave, Nanou. Before something happens we’ll both regret.’

‘But what about the party?’ I said.

‘If you want me, I’ll stay till then.’ She put her arms around me and hugged me tight. ‘Listen, Nanou. I know it’s hard. But I want you to have what I never had. A family. A home. A place of your own. And if the wind needs a sacrifice, then let it be me. I’ve nothing to lose. Besides—’ She gave a little sigh. ‘I don’t want to settle down. I don’t want to spend my life wondering what’s over the next hill. I would have left sooner or later – and now’s as good a time as any—’