All that morning, the dream stubbornly stayed with him as he and his dog checked the flock. He rounded up the three ewes that hadn’t yet given birth, and took into the pen a lamb whose mother had rejected it. Soon there would be no more excuses to stay. Tomorrow, the next day, he would take his flock up into the mountain. He was so lost in the dream of Edith that he was unaware of a well-built, compact young man standing a little way off, staring at him. Demetrius wondered why his dog hadn’t barked.

‘Good morning,’ called Demetrius.

The young man didn’t answer.

He continued with his work. One of the ewes was in trouble and gave birth to a dead lamb, bleating out her misery. He left the carcass on a bale of straw near where the abandoned lamb was penned. He was busy with another sheep when he saw the young man picking up the dead lamb.

Demetrius asked what he was doing but the young man didn’t reply.

Strange, thought Demetrius, but he would have to deal with it later. It was only after he’d checked the other ewes that the young man reappeared, carrying the abandoned lamb. He’d covered it in the dead lamb’s fleece.

Demetrius put the lamb in the pen with the bereaved ewe and they watched as she began to suckle it as if it were her own.

‘Thank you,’ said Demetrius. ‘You did that very well. What’s your name?’

He waited and he thought the lad might not have heard him so he repeated the question.

The young man, turning his head to one side, said, ‘My name is Misha.’

‘Can you hear?’ Demetrius asked him.

‘One ear only,’ said Misha. His lack of hearing caused his words to come out slowly as if he was gathering his sentences together.

Demetrius held out his hand and invited Misha to share his breakfast. They sat down to eat the bread that Edith had baked for him, with cheese, honey and sweet tea.

‘You’re going to marry the cabinet maker’s daughter,’ said Misha.

‘Yes,’ said Demetrius.

‘Good. And you will be back before snowfall.’

Demetrius laughed. ‘Is there anyone in the village who hasn’t heard about the oath?’

Misha didn’t laugh. ‘You must be back,’ he said.

‘I will be,’ said Demetrius. And for a reason he didn’t fully understand he told Misha about his dream, and the uneasy feeling it had left him with.

‘You’ll think me stupid,’ he added.

‘No,’ said Misha. ‘Stupid is my role, not yours. You’re the stranger, the lover. I’m the idiot.’

Demetrius chose not to reply to that but said, ‘I fear something might happen to Edith while I’m away. This is the first spring since becoming a shepherd that I wished I didn’t have to leave.’

‘I’ll look out for her.’