My mind was suddenly full of visions of the young man who had been yet another victim of Ariel’s hatred of me. It was not Kella’s fault that Domick’s strangeness and coldness and rejections had driven them apart, but they had once loved one another fiercely enough to defy the unspoken rules of their respective guilds, and I could not understand how she could refuse to come to him at the end. After all, what had happened to him had been our fault – all of us at Obernewtyn, including her – and even as he was dying, he had spoken of her with love and longing.

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.