The last of these missions came to her in the sleepless watches of the previous night. Her sanity, and ultimately her livelihood, depend upon her producing finished pieces to sell. And soon. She can bring her mind and nerves to bear on fixing the electricity to work her kiln, or she has to find some other way of firing her pots. Once the idea of a wood-fired kiln presented itself the choice was easy. A firing done outside, beneath the stars, heat generated by wood grown in this very landscape, her work brought into being via a method so natural, so ancient, so somehow of-the-place, it was, after all, the perfect solution. The prospect of building her own kiln excites her, and the possibilities the process offered—the curious, slightly random results such firings were known to produce—these things appeal to her more and more now that she thinks about them. She will use natural glazes, work them with salt to produce free and flowing patterns of texture and color.

These pieces could be something special. Something really special.

She has the space in the garden, and there is plenty of wood. She built a kiln of this sort whilst at art school, and recalls being delighted with the resulting pots. A few more pointers regarding glaze mixes at such uncontrolled temperatures would be helpful, but otherwise she knows she is more than capable of constructing a kiln that will perfectly suit her needs.

She pulls on her duffle coat, a woolen hat, and thermal gloves, and chooses hiking socks and boots rather than trainers. The sun is bright and sharp today, but the ground outside is still frozen, and the temperature low enough to bring on a toothache. She pauses in the doorway to speak to Thistle.

‘You sure you want to come? It’s very cold, and I’m not going to be running.’

The dog looks at her quizzically, head tilted.

‘There’ll probably be a fair amount of hanging about.’

Thistle gives up trying to make sense of her mistress’s babble and squeezes past her, through the door, and starts trotting around the garden, her decision clearly made.