“A good question, Frances, but transferring spirits is against the regulations set by the Guild and the Sovereign Chancellery. It was briefly tried before the Guild realized the risks. It’s a delicate enough procedure to harness a ghost in the first place. There would be a chance of disrupting the wildspark signal held within the qwortzite if we moved it to a new body.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Obviously it’s good when we get a serendipitous match. We’ve been experimenting with different forms for many years,” said Craftsman Primrose. “Sometimes it works out and sometimes there is disparity, so we try a wide variety and celebrate when they do match well.”

“Are most personifates happy with their new bodies?” Prue asked.

“Usually they are. The biomorphic principle means there is usually a connection formed, but our sense of self is quite fragile and rooted in our physicality. But perhaps Edwin would like to provide us with his unique insight, from a personifate perspective?”

Edwin shrugged his small furry shoulders. “I guess I was lucky to be brought back as a stoat technician. My paws are nimble and I like drawing and working with machines, so it seems like a good fit. But also, I am who I am, I don’t know otherwise. But if you think about it, isn’t that the case for first and second lifers? None of us can help what we are born into.”

Craftsman Primrose nodded. “Exactly, Edwin. An excellent point. It is what you make of what you have that means something. What you choose to do with your time here, whether second or first life.”

“But there’s really no way of knowing who Edwin was before?” asked Prue.

Craftsman Primrose shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

Silence fell for a moment and then Edwin, Agapantha and Craftsman Primrose went back to their reading.

But Prue’s mind was still turning over. After a while she said, “Could there be a way of making sure of a suitable match by locating the right ghost? Some way of making it less random?”

Craftsman Primrose looked at her over his wire-rimmed spectacles. “I’m afraid not, but our experience over the years has given us some clues. For example, we know the ghosts harnessed at the factorium are from a certain geographical radius because we can safely assume the voices and languages originated in their first life. We have occasionally harnessed a second lifer with the ability to speak in two languages, meaning they were likely living in this land but were originally from another.”

“Do you know how far the radius is?” Prue crossed her fingers under the table.

Craftsman Primrose’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she hoped she hadn’t been too inquisitive.

“We estimate somewhere in the region of two hundred miles.”

Prue contained a smile; that meant there was definitely a chance she could bring back Francis at the Guild.