He watched her depart, then nodded to the Urbu. ‘Come on then, Chuckles. Let’s go for a walk.’

He made his approach to the terrace railing carefully, seemingly aimless, coming to rest just above where Rasha was digging in the fresh earth. The Urbu remained watchful, but at a distance, and Chel made a show of looking in every direction but down, angling his head away before hissing a greeting.

She looked up, then up again; her face brightened, then creased with worry at the sight of him.

‘Hey,’ he whispered, keeping his jaw as still as he could, speaking almost through gritted teeth. ‘Keep as quiet as you can.’

She nodded, casting looks over her shoulders at the other girls. If they had noticed her budding conversation, they were keeping it to themselves. She looked up at him, morning sunlight burnishing her tightly coiled hair, the thick linen of her work clothes.

‘You’re outside.’

‘I am.’

‘I wanted to … We weren’t allowed to—’

‘I understand. It’s fine. Really, though, I’m nothing to be afraid of.’

‘Oh.’ She actually looked disappointed. He felt himself flushing, tried to steel himself.

‘Listen, there’s another man here, who arrived with me. Do you know where he is?’

‘The hajamin?’

There it was, another gust of past aches thought long forgotten. A word he knew, one he’d not heard in over a decade. A word meaning outsider, foreigner, one who does not – cannot – belong, delivered as a guileless punch to the gut by an oblivious teenager.

‘Yes.’

‘He’s in a hut, down by the stables.’ She chewed her lip. ‘They told us not to approach him.’

‘That’s good advice. He’s dangerous.’

Her eyes widened, and she edged involuntarily back. He immediately regretted his words and tried to repair their intimacy.

‘He’s not so bad when you get to know him. Mostly.’

She smiled, then dropped her head in a flash, reabsorbed in her planting. Chel frowned, then felt the thick presence at his elbow. His friendly Urbu was staring at him, at the girl, then back at him, frown deeper than ever. He grunted, and nodded back toward the main building, and Chel walked. He risked one last look over his shoulder at the terrace below as he went, and she was looking back. He winked, then strode from sight, feeling an odd, hot tingling in his chest.

***