The others who had travelled in the back of the carriage were now helping Darius down and I felt a rush of pity to see, yet again, his handsome face atop his stunted and twisted body. Yet he was not white with pain as I had often seen him after other journeys. No doubt his more settled life was serving him well, and probably Kella had been draining his pain as they travelled. No wonder he had chosen to live at the Healing Centre, where he would have access to her skills. And just as obviously she valued him as a friend and as a healer, given that, on her own account, she had come up to the highlands for his sake.

Darius caught my eye and limped through the others to greet me. He had been very ill when last I had seen him, but now, though he grimaced as his misshapen limbs moved and stretched, I saw that he was less stiff and awkward than he had been. Up close, his resemblance to Swallow startled me as much as ever, but I greeted him with genuine pleasure and suggested the healers that had come up with him should take him straight to Roland, who would surely prescribe a tisane. He smiled and said that he felt well enough for the time being, and that Okan would see to him later. He was indicating the blond giant, and his gesture brought the big youth loping over with a look of eager anxiety.

‘Do you have need of me, master?’ he asked, in a strange almost breathless accent.

‘No, Okan, but thank you for asking,’ Darius said gently. ‘Maybe you can go and see if Kella needs some help unloading the boxes we are bringing to Roland.’

‘That’s the Healer guildmaster at Obernewtyn, yes?’ he asked so earnestly that it struck me that he was slightly defective. As soon as he had moved away, Darius confirmed it.

‘We do not know much about him save that he was washed ashore in a storm as a baby lashed to a spar. That he was not drowned was a miracle, according to the woman who found him and took him in. She brought him up as her son but she was not young and when he carried her to us at the Healing Centre she was dying. It was a natural death and we could do little but give her herbs to ease her passing. Indeed, we wondered why she had asked to be brought to us, for most folk in old age prefer to remain in their homes. Then it transpired that she had wanted to speak to us about Okan. She explained how he had come to her and then she said that as we could well see, he was simple minded and generous and utterly gullible and these traits would make him fair game for any rogue who thought to misuse him, once she was not there to protect him. She said that she had always thought that, when she died, he might come and serve in the Healing Centre because he had a gift that might make him useful to us. She asked if we would prentice him and agree to care for him. Before Kella could answer, she collapsed, and died later that same night without ever regaining consciousness.