‘I met with Iriny this morning,’ I said, surprised. ‘You can see that in my aura?’

‘I see the colours of beasts better than humans,’ he answered, seeming untroubled by my startled question. ‘That is how I heal them. But I can see human auras, too, and there is a tinge of gypsy in yours. I don’t know any better way to say it. It is as if you had been in the maze and I could tell that because of the smell of greenthorn lingering in your clothes. I take it Iriny told you her brother is to choose a heartchild?’

I nodded. ‘I guessed it must be the reason you were summoned.’

He shrugged and said quietly, ‘It was less a summons than information, for it was Swallow who proposed to the elders that I be exempted from the portion of the ancient promises that requires us not to settle until they are fulfilled. But this matter of the D’rekta choosing a heartchild is important to my people and I wish to show my support for Swallow. It is a sad thing to know you will not leave a child to take your place in the world.’

The gravity of his expression made me wonder if the twisting of his body went so deep that he could father no children. Yet the likelihood of his bonding with a woman and having a child must be remote in any case. Suddenly I remembered the sickness that had stricken him in Saithwold, which had arisen partly from his secret yearning for Kella. He was clearly at ease with her now and must have found some way to get over what he felt. How strange that one could heal from love, as if it were a chill or some small sickness. I did not think I could ever be cured of love for Rushton, whether he returned my feelings or not, or whether I saw him again or not. Loving him was as much a part of me as my arm.

Darius was watching me still, and I said hastily, ‘Gahltha will be glad to see you, as will the other beasts you treated after the massacre in the White Valley.’

‘I have worked hard at learning Brydda’s signal speech and I am looking forward very much to speaking with them directly at last,’ Darius said. He hesitated and glanced over to where Kella stood talking with Gevan. Then he looked back at me and said softly, ‘Kella longed to come here, but she feared it too, I think, for she believes that you judge her because of what happened to Domick. Do you?’

I could not deny it outright or he would see the lie. I said slowly, ‘It is hard for me to think of him. He loved Kella and yet he rejected her and treated her ill. It was not her fault they parted. Nor was it her fault that he became ill in his mind or that Ariel infected him with plague.’