“Come,” she says. And when I step inside, closing the door quickly behind me, and she sees that it’s me: “Oh!” Her eyes are wide and surprised. In that moment, I can barely breathe. Everything’s golden. She sits at a dressing table wearing a yellow dress, and she’s been brushing out her hair so that it lies golden on her shoulders like spun sugar. It’s an image I’ll always remember and it makes me grin. “What?” She frowns.

“I – oh, nothing.”

Already I’m stealing glances at the room; my first time in a Travester girl’s bedroom. With the gold-thread cushions on the bed and the ribbon rug on the floor, the two thin porcelain dolls on the dresser, it’s very different to Marina and Babet’s basic room.

“What are you doing here, Leho?” she whispers, coming over and taking my hand.

That floors me, her warm hand in mine. She’s only a foot away from me, and I can see the flecks of gold in her eyes.

Her look and voice are urgent. “Tansy will be here any minute with my breakfast. You mustn’t be caught.”

I clear my throat. “Look, I might be going away after all.”

“To the Caucasas?”

“No!” Then, making an effort to speak more calmly: “No, not the Caucasas, but somewhere else … There’s something I have to do, a task.”

She puts her head on one side, like her little dog, which makes me grin again. “You can be very annoying, you know.” She sniffs.

“Mysterious?”

Her brow softens. “Yes, annoying in a mysterious kind of way.”

She gives my hand a squeeze then releases it, goes over to sit on the bed. I’ve come this far so I follow her and sit down too, trying not to be distracted by the softness of the mattress and the fact that it’s not on the floor but on some kind of frame.

I’m thinking how to put my feelings, my hope, into words. “Can you imagine,” I begin, taking her hand in mine, “if our world was different …”

“Different in what way?” She frowns again.

“Well, if you and I were the same, for instance.” I watch her carefully to see if it’s even possible for her to imagine such a thing. Thoughts move swiftly across her eyes.

“If we were on the same footing,” she says tentatively.

“Yes. If the city was changed, like you said … Maybe even if the Director wasn’t in charge any more.” Again, I watch carefully for her reaction. This might be a harder one for her to imagine. But then, we’ve come this far.

“He’ll always be in charge, Leho,” Emee says in a soft voice that seems to echo with regret.

“I don’t think that’s true,” I blurt out. “Things are going to change, and soon!”