“Nirala was harsha,” said the Firelord, and I nearly dropped the bowls. I caught them in time, placed them on the hearthstones, and sat down again.

“I was divining in a town,” he said. “While I was there, a child was taken injured from the mine, lamed, and the overseer had him killed. The child’s mother witnessed it, and attacked the overseer. They were going to put her to death for it, but I intervened. She told me her husband had died in the mine, and that her son had been all she had. I exonerated her, cleared her of all guilt, and swore I’d Quell the first Chosen who tried to punish her. I caused a great deal of ill feeling. My own handmaid walked out on me, and the Chosen in the town were barely hospitable. I knew as soon as I left, they would avenge the overseer and kill the harsha, so I took her with me. I took her to a secret place I had discovered on my travels, that I loved. I made a home for her there.

“The woman was Nirala. Though I was fifty years old then and she was not much older than you, we grew to love each other, and she became my wife. She taught me Quelled myths and legends, and because of her and the love between us, I began to question everything I had been taught. I began to honour the Quelled, and to seek to make a better life for them.

“I told the Quelled in other mines of the place where Nirala lived, and it became a refuge for the sick and injured. I took one of my own physicians there, whom I trusted, and he looked after them. Over the years a community grew up, and the place became home to me, even more than Kasimarra. And Nirala and I had a son.”

He hesitated, and I looked into his face and knew. “Teraj,” I said.

He smiled, and nodded. “Teraj had inherited my powers, though not for divining – for healing. My physician taught him everything he knew. The place where my son dwells is the most precious place on earth to me. I grieved only that he was always alone, that he did not find a woman that he loved. Then I saw him with you. You are worthy of each other, Elsha.”

He smiled, and there was a great love in his eyes. Then he glanced at the fire, at the meat on the spit. “And I suppose you think I’m worthy of that dinner there, burning itself black. Shall we eat it now, or when it’s totally ruined?”