was smiling, apart from Nish, who had an anguished look on his face.
He has no idea, Tiaan thought. Irisis was right; Nish really is the thickest man on Santhenar. Please put him out of his misery.
‘I never dared to love openly, but now I can. Nish is going to be my man, of course.’ Irisis pulled him to her and kissed him on the mouth in front of everyone, and Nish could not restrain his tears this time.
‘What about you, surr?’ Irisis said after a decent interval of congratulations, and more toasts with the truly awful wine.
‘I’ll write the Histories of the war. I want to make sure my version is recorded … you know how it is.’ Flydd glanced at Fyn-Mah and smiled. ‘And then, I think, an honourable retirement. Perhaps a cottage and a garden full of flowers.’
Nish had recovered sufficiently to choke into his wine cup. ‘Retirement and flowers? You?’
Flydd scowled down his battered nose. ‘And why not?’ he snapped, before turning to Tiaan. ‘What will you do now, Artisan?’
‘I’m going home to Tiksi,’ she said. ‘To find my mother.’
‘And then?’
‘I don’t know.’ Tiaan looked slantwise across the table at Nish, who was staring into Irisis’s eyes again. She looked away. ‘I’ll find work somewhere. I don’t suppose the manufactory will need artisans any more, but someone will.’
‘What then?’ Flydd persisted.
She hesitated. ‘I’d like to find a mate, and have children. I never had a proper family, but in spite of Marnie I –’
‘Marnie?’ said Merryl, staring at her. He half-rose from his seat. ‘Marnie who?’
‘Marnie Liise-Mar,’ said Tiaan. She pushed back her chair, and her scalp felt as if it had been rubbed with a chunk of ice.
‘Tiaan?’ he whispered, as if he had never heard the name before. ‘Your name is Liise-Mar?’
‘Yes. Marnie is my mother.’
‘Why did I not know?’ Merryl cried. ‘My daughter – my precious, precious daughter.’
As she stared at his familiar yet entirely new face, a single tear ran down her cheek. ‘Father?’
He walked around the table towards her. She ran and threw herself into his arms, sobbing for sheer joy.
‘All my life I’ve been searching for you, Merryl, Father. I’ve never forgiven Marnie for sending you off to the front-lines to die.’
‘I forgave her many years ago. It was a man’s duty to serve and I didn’t go unwillingly. I often think of her …’
‘But you can’t go back to her after what she did to you?’ she cried.
‘I don’t expect anything of her, after all this time,’ he said. ‘Marnie was young and foolish, and so was I, but I do want to see her again. She was so slim, so beautiful. Rather like you, Tiaan.’
‘She’s fat!’ said Tiaan. ‘Fat but still beautiful.’
‘And I’m aged beyond my years and lack a hand. And my only skill is to speak a language that no one on Santhenar uses. Tell me about her.’
‘I’m the oldest of fifteen children, all with different fathers. All my brothers and sisters are living, the last I heard. All clever and hardworking, too.’
‘Marnie was a very clever woman,’ he said. ‘She just chose not to use it the way other people wanted her to.’
‘Father,’ said Tiaan, and the word sounded strange in her ears. ‘What is your name? I tried to find you in the Tiksi bloodline register but I couldn’t read the writing.’
‘I’m Amante Merrelyn, though I’ve not used my name in twenty years.’
‘Merrelyn,’ said Xervish Flydd. ‘I thought you looked familiar.’
‘Amante,’ she said, rolling the name around on her tongue. ‘Amante.’
‘It’s too grand for the man I am now. Merryl fits me much better.’
‘How come you didn’t know my name?’ said Tiaan.
‘You hadn’t been named when I was sent to the war. I thought about my daughter all the time, and it was hard, without a name.’
‘I never liked using her name. For twenty years I’ve just been Tiaan.’
‘I knew your parents, Merryl,’ said Flydd.
‘They both had a gift for languages,’ said Merryl. ‘More than a gift – a talent bolstered by the Art. They travelled the world with kings and governors, and even scrutators.’
‘They were among the greatest translators of the age,’ said Flydd. ‘A tragedy that they were lost so young.’
‘It was, but at least they passed their talent to me.’
‘Perhaps that’s why you’re the only person ever to master the lyrinx tongue.’
‘It’s not much use to me now,’ said Merryl.
‘You never know,’ said Flydd. ‘By the time you’ve written down all you know about the lyrinx and the war, for the Histories,