Jacob said no lime pot lasted that long. New ones were always being made. One lime pot or another, no difference. But Mr Lim understood. It cost Aaron all he could borrow from Sam to buy back the lime pot and stick that his uncle had rattled, as his father had before him, and before that their father, Aaron’s grandfather, when he called the clans to attention.

‘Why didn’t he tell me?’ Rika asked. ‘I had no idea. None.’

‘He only knew this morning,’ Wana said.

‘He didn’t tell me about the treasures, that they’d be his. Didn’t he think I’d be interested? Didn’t he trust me?’

‘No one explains these things to white friends,’ Wana said. ‘We live a different life here at the university. It’s too hard explaining, and no one other than us understands anyway.’

‘You could try,’ Sam said. ‘I’d like to know.’

Wana disregarded him. Later, she seemed to say with a shake of her head. It was tiring, this role of go-between. She had a pile of books, and essays to write.

‘There are some other things you should know,’ Sam said.

‘Like what?’ Rika snapped. She felt adrift, closed out, alone.

‘Like Tessa’s uncle is sending her back to Melbourne already,’ Wana said.

‘So soon?’

‘She goes tomorrow.’

‘Sooner or later the family would put a stop to it.’

‘It’s not just that,’ Wana said. ‘There are rumours in town.’

‘Rumours. There’re always rumours.’

A woman from New Zealand was threatened in her hotel by a group of white men who’d seen her in the bar with some Papuans. They said she was leading them on. ‘Do it again and we’ll show you what it is to be a whore.’

‘Rika. Listen,’ Sam said. ‘It’s important. Reports have been handed in to the administrator’s office. Derek from Politics knows. He hears these things. Last week he warned Aaron. There are groups forming, and it’s all about Papuan men with white women. They’re expecting incidents.’

‘Like what?’

‘We don’t know,’ Wana said. ‘Even Derek doesn’t know. But the cars at night - you’ve seen them. They’ve been on the campus during the day, outside the offices, white drivers sitting there watching.’

‘They can drive around as much as they like,’ Rika said. ‘There’s nothing to see. Nothing.’

‘It’s what they think,’ Sam said, ‘not what they see.’

‘You two go to films together. Nobody complains about that,’ Rika said. ‘I haven’t been anywhere with Aaron, unless it’s all of us.’

‘This is different,’ Wana said.

‘Why?’ Rika’s chin was pushed forward, her mouth set.

‘Because you’re a woman,’ Wana said. ‘They’ve never minded white men with a woman like me.’

‘And because you’re married,’ Sam said. Then, looking at her, he said, ‘Sorry, Rika. But it is obviously a factor.’ He took her hand. She pulled it away.

‘And because you look good together,’ Wana said. ‘Very good. It makes people jealous.’

DARKNESS CAME AND THE HANDS OF THE CLOCK CONTINUED TO turn. Rifle and Mela refused to go home. ‘No, you go,’ Rika said. They looked at her, united. ‘Nogat,’ they said. ‘For Aaron, we stay.’