The woman dipped a hand into the pocket of her skirt and fished out a small brass ornament. It had a broken buckle, with a bit of leather attached. Elen rested the object on her palm. The ornament depicted a griffin’s head: eagle’s beak, pointed cat ears, a curling crest down the back of a long neck, and stylized feathers. The workmanship was superlative. She’d seen a similar image in the intendant’s manifest of the imperial corps. A griffin! Could it be related to the missing scout?

With an effort, Elen tamped down a surge of excitement and dread, and addressed Oflidu in a calm tone.

“This looks like part of the harness worn by an imperial griffin scout. Where did you find this?”

The charwoman fell to her knees, trembling. “I pray you, Deputy Courier—”

“I am Elen to you, am I not? We are not so different, Oflidu.”

“Nay, nay, it is not so. You have the courtesy of the intendant. I live on the sufferance of the archon. She has never forgiven me for the death of her child.”

“Ah, yes, I remember. My sister told me of the day when four women here in the town were giving birth all at the same time.”

“A full moon,” Oflidu muttered. “Healer Aoving asked for all four to be taken to the Heart Temple, so she could supervise them together. The archon refused.”

“That’s right. Aoving told me she delivered the first two in quick succession, easy labors. She went to check on the archon, but her labor was proceeding the most slowly so she came back here because of her concern for your daughter.”

Oflidu’s hands were gripped to white around the poker. “The fault was mine. It was all my selfish fault.”

“How can that be?” Elen said gently.

“I ran to the archon’s compound and begged Aoving to hurry back because my daughter was in such pain. If she’d stayed with the archon—”

“That’s not what I recall Aoving saying. She related the entire affair to me later.” Because the archon’s high-handed dealing had angered Aoving, but Elen didn’t add that. “The archon’s baby had a flaw in its heart. It wouldn’t have lived no matter what. That’s not your fault.”

“The archon says I should have respected authority and not called the healer to attend to my daughter.”

“Didn’t your daughter have a difficult breech birth? Up to that point, the archon’s labor was proceeding normally, and no one knew about the bad heart. A breech birth needs special intervention.”

“Yes. A turning. That’s what she did. It was the blessing of the High Heavens!”