The servant took me to one of the smaller rooms high under the roof, and said to the air above my head, “Women will bring water so that you may wash, harsha, and they will help you dress in clean garments.”

I looked straight into his face, and thanked him. He flushed with anger, still without meeting my eyes, and went out.

I turned around slowly, and examined the room. It was small, compared with some of the other rooms through which we had passed, but it was still ten times bigger than my father’s tent. There was furniture: a bed, covered with silken quilts and cushions and several splendid furs; a carved wooden chest inlaid with ivory; a low table with a huge tasselled cushion on the floor beside it; a cabinet with latticed doors; wall hangings of glowing saffron, green and vermilion; jars of bronze and cups of silver; and thick, dark-coloured carpets. A huge fireplace stood in one wall, backed and surrounded with sooty stones. I did not know at that time what all the things in the room were called; a woman told me later. All the wooden furniture – and the house itself – was made hundreds of years before, in the days when there were trees and wood was plentiful.

It all was wonderful to me, and mysterious. I went over to the wooden cabinet with latticed doors. The catch on the cabinet confounded me for a moment, then it fell open and I pulled back the doors. Scrolls. Rows and rows of scrolled books, all the colour of clean bone, smooth, and smelling of great age. I lifted one out, carefully, and unrolled it. The parchment was thick and covered with beautifully even black writing.

I could read none of it, of course, but I held the book high and said solemnly, “These are the myths of the Quelled, spoken by the wise woman, she who is called Elsha. In the beginning, God created all men and women equal – but the women were a little higher than the men – and God was good and loved all his people. But one day, in a desperate time, some wicked men rose up and overpowered the peaceful ones. And the wicked ones called themselves Chosen, and the peaceful ones they called Quelled. Those were not the names God gave to the people; those were the names given by the oppressors, and those names were not true. But the Chosen were not always strong, and the Quelled were not always subdued.”

There was a slight cough behind me, and I spun around, hot with terror and guilt. Behind me stood a man.

He was tall, and wore all red. His clothing was different from that of other Chosen. His robes were long, down to his feet, and fell in thick folds. He had a pointed black beard, and thick hair receding from his forehead. He was old, yet his face seemed strangely young, and he was dark-skinned, noble and strong. His eyebrows were black and straight, and almost joined above his large, hooked nose. His mouth was strong and well-formed, his upper lip coming out a little over his lower one, giving him a distant, dignified look. His cheekbones were high and prominent, his eyes heavy-lidded, the lashes thick and black. I had seen no other man like him.