I had a sudden vision of Ceirwan coming in later in the morning to my chamber to find me gone. We had been friends as well as guildmistress and guilden for many years and he deserved a proper farewell. Yet even if I had been able to leave him a missive, all that I might say as guildmistress to the new guildmaster of the Farseekers would be things Ceirwan would come to of his own accord, and what could I say as a friend but goodbye? To leave him and all of the others without any explanation seemed churlish, but in truth, what words could I have woven in such little time as I had to soften the abruptness of my departure? I had none of Rushton’s gift for speeches. One day, when the truth sealed up in him broke free, he would speak for me with his silver tongue. But for now, my departure was better unremarked, for it would delay anyone trying to follow me.

Finding me absent, Ceirwan would farseek me, and when he could not find me, he would suppose I had closed my mind to him, as I was wont to do when I needed a bit of privacy. He knew well that I had not been looking forward to the hordes of strangers that would descend on us for the moon fair.

I had not asked Rushton when and where Angina would be buried or how such a sombre event was to be managed in the midst of a moon fair. Certainly Angina must be buried with proper ceremony as much for the living as anything else, but what of Miky? Was her brother to be buried while she slept? They could not wait more than a couple of days. I thought of the pain she would suffer if she woke and discovered that her twin was dead and buried. Perhaps she would wish she had died too.

I shook my head. There was nothing I could do for either of the twins now. Either Miky would live or she would not. The matter was in the hands of fate, or maybe in the gentle healing hands of Darius.

After some time, when it was discovered I was not at Obernewtyn, Rushton might ride down to the White Valley only to find that I had never arrived at the Twentyfamilies’ camp. His visit would alert Swallow that I was missing and I knew the gypsy would realise something was afoot, but I could not imagine what he would do, unless his seers foresaw where I had gone and sent him after me. As to Rushton, he might even decide to ride right down to the lowlands if Ceirwan told him of my fear that Analivia had gone to seek her father and brother. But they would find no trace of me in Saithwold or Sawlney.