A thousand things suddenly clicked into place in Sparhawk’s mind, things that had never really been explained before. ‘How old is Sephrenia?’ he asked.

She sighed. ‘You know I’m not going to answer that, Sparhawk. Besides, I’m not really sure. The years don’t mean as much to us as they do to you. In a general way, though, Sephrenia’s hundreds of years old, maybe even a thousand – whatever that means.’

‘Where is she now?’

‘She and Vanion are off together. You knew how they felt about each other, didn’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Astonishing. You can use your eyes after all.’

‘What are they doing?’

‘They’re looking after things for me. I’m too busy to attend to business this time, and somebody has to mind the shop. Sephrenia can answer prayers as well as I can, and I don’t have all that many worshippers.’

‘Do you absolutely have to make all of this sound so commonplace?’ His tone was plaintive.

‘But it is, father. It’s your Elene God who takes Himself so seriously. I’ve never once seen Him laugh. My worshippers are much more sensible. They love me, so they’re tolerant of my mistakes.’ She laughed suddenly, climbed up into his lap and kissed him. ‘You’re the best father I’ve ever had, Sparhawk. I can actually talk with you about these things without making your eyes pop out of their sockets.’ She rested her head against his chest. ‘What’s really been going on, father? I know that things aren’t going well, but Mirtai keeps putting me down for naps when people come to make reports to you, so I can’t get very many details.’

‘It hasn’t been a good time for the world, Aphrael,’ he said gravely. ‘The weather’s been very bad, and there have been famine and pestilence. Nothing seems to be going the way it should. If I were at all superstitious, I’d say that the whole world’s been going through a long spell of very bad luck.’

‘That’s my family’s fault, Sparhawk,’ she admitted. ‘We started feeling very sorry for ourselves after what happened to Azash, so we haven’t been attending to business. I think that maybe it’s time for all of us to grow up. I’ll talk with the others and let you know what we decide.’

‘I’d appreciate that.’ Sparhawk could not actually believe this conversation was taking place.

‘We have a bit of a problem, though,’ she told him.

‘Only one?’

‘Stop that. I’m serious. What are we going to tell mother?’

‘Oh, my God!’ he said, his eyes suddenly going very wide. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’