‘A voice spoke in my dreams last year and bade me learn to ride,’ the empath said. ‘The next day Faraf offered to teach me. When the dream voice came three nights in a row, I decided it must be some sort of true dream. It was only some time later that I understood that a voice in a dream had also prompted Faraf to teach me to ride. I was less adept at communicating with her then, for much of the signal speech people use to communicate with animals relied on signals that must be seen. But bit by bit we found ways to replace them with signals that could be felt or heard.’ He smiled at the little pony who nuzzled at him lovingly, offering me a shy greeting. I reached out to stroke her.

‘As for me, as you know already, I long ago saw visions of you that let me understand that you were the one spoken of in the ancient promises,’ Swallow told me. ‘Last year, the voice of my dreams told me that you would travel to Stonehill and that you would need the help of the Twentyfamilies. I would have gone myself but the seers forbade it, so I sent Iriny. Then again the voice spoke a twomonth past, and I did its bidding, sending Iriny to the White Valley. The voice said that after she had done what you needed her to do, the ancient promises would be fulfilled, as far as the Twentyfamilies were concerned. But I had a further part to play in your quest and then I saw a vision of the way I must travel to reach this valley.’

‘Iriny told me that you were coming up to the White Valley to choose an heir because your seers had seen that you would never father a child.’

‘The exact wording was that I would never father a child who would lead the Twentyfamilies,’ Swallow said. ‘The seers feared that this must mean I was unable to bear a child. The dream voice told me that I would father a child only if I left the Land and my people to serve you, and that if I did, I would never return. But the seers said I must not leave without having chosen an heir, for even if the ancient promises that have guided and constrained us for so long were fulfilled as I had said, it would not be easy for the Twentyfamilies to adapt to this new world and life in which they must discover their own purposes. They wanted a symbol to bind them and to cherish as they once cherished the duties demanded by the ancient promises, the seers said. So I visioned and chose a heartchild. The ceremonies were completed ere I left the Land and came here to this valley, as I had been bidden.’

‘How long ago did the … the voice tell you to come here to this valley?’ I asked.