She did not smile. ‘My brother will be fasting in order to purify himself before he seeks his vision but none can say how long a spirit journey will take. And once it is done, he will announce the name to the elders, after which the child must be fetched and anointed by him as his heartson before being returned to its blood parents. If the child is among those who travel with Swallow, this will not take long, but it may be that the infant will belong to a troupe that is elsewhere in the Land, and will have to be found and brought to the White Valley.’

‘How will yer brother go about seeking a vision?’ Alden asked curiously.

Iriny gave him a stern, cold look. ‘That is not a matter to be spoken of to those who are not of the Twentyfamilies.’ She rose abruptly. ‘I must go back to the White Valley now. Fare you well, Elspeth Gordie.’ She nodded coolly to Alden and then, without further ado, she pulled on the coat and boots she had shed by the door and strode out.

‘I offended her,’ the coercer said, looking chastened.

I shook my head absently. ‘Do not trouble yourself, Alden. It is only that she has little patience for courtesies.’

‘Strange eyes, but a strikin’ woman,’ Alden murmured with a sigh. ‘Is it true that gypsies can tell if they are lied to?’

‘They can see it in the person’s aura, which is what they call the spirit when it is seen with the waking eyes, though I believe only some gypsies have that Talent,’ I answered.

‘I wonder why they have different Talents from other Misfits,’ Alden said, but I hardly heard him for I was thinking that there had been something final in the way Iriny had bade me farewell. She had spoken, I thought, as if she knew that we would not meet again.

When I emerged from the watchhut, it was late morning and the sky had clouded over, though there were still patches of blue.

Gahltha came to join me, explaining that, after speaking for some time with the mare Vinderlin, who had carried the gypsy up from the White Valley, Avra had decided to accompany her and Iriny so that she could speak with the horses that moved about with the gypsies. She wanted to find out how they viewed their relationship with the funaga.

‘It sounds as if she is gathering information,’ I sent, wishing I had taken the time to speak to her on the ride down. On the other hand, Gahltha had once scolded me for the very human mistake, according to him, of believing that conversation was the only way in which beings could communicate.

‘Avra has been asked by the herd leader to learn more of the ways in which equines serve / subjugate themselves to the funaga,’ Gahltha sent.