“Some other place,” Toller said. “You mean another world? LikeFarland?”

“No.” Lain gave him a look which was both frank and enigmatic. “I mean another totality — where physical laws and constants differ from those we know.”

Toller stared back at his brother as he strove to penetrate the barrier which had slid into place between them. “It is all very interesting,” he said. “I can see why the essay has taken you so long.”

Lain laughed aloud and came round the desk to embrace Toller. “I love you, little brother.”

“I love you.”

“Good! I want you to keep that in mind when Leddravohr arrives. I’m a committed pacifist, Toller, and I eschew all violence. The fact that I am no match for Leddravo.hr is an irrelevance — I would behave towards him in exactly the same way were our social status and physiques transposed. Leddravohr and his kind are part of the past, whereas we represent the future. So I want you to swear that no matter what insult Leddravohr offers me, you will stay apart and leave the conduct of my affairs strictly to me.”

“I’m a different person now,” Toller said, stepping back. “Besides, Leddravohr might be in a good mood.”

“I want your word, Toller.”

“You have it. Besides, it’s in my own interests to keep on the right side of Leddravohr if I want to be a skyship pilot.” Toller was belatedly shocked by the content of his own words. “Lain, why are we taking all this so calmly? We have just been told that the world as we know it is coming to an end…and that some of us have to try reaching another planet… yet we’re all going about our ordinary business as though everything was normal. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s a more natural reaction than you might think. And don’t forget the migration flight is only a contingency at this stage — it might never happen.”

“The war with Chamteth is going to happen.”

“That is the King’s responsibility,” Lain said, his voice suddenly brusque. “It can’t be laid at my door. I have to get on with my work now.”

“I should see how my lord is faring.” As Toller walked along the corridor to the main stair he again wondered why Leddravohr had chosen to come to the Square House instead of visiting Glo at the much larger Greenmount Peel. The sunwriter message from the palace had baldly stated that the Princes Leddravohr and Chakkell would arrive at the house before littlenight for initial technical briefings, and the infirm Glo had been obliged to journey out to meet them. It was now well into aftday and Glo would be growing tired, his strength further sapped by the effort of trying to hide his disability.

Toller descended to the entrance hall and turned left into the dayroom where he had left Glo in the temporary care of Fera. The two had a very comfortable relationship because of — Toller suspected — rather than in spite of her lowly origin and unpolished manner. It was another of Glo’s little affectations, a way of reminding those around him that there was more to him than the cloistered philosopher. He was seated at a table reading a small book, and Fera was standing by a window gazing out at the mesh-mosaic of the sky. She was wearing a simple one piece garment of pale green cambric which showed off her statuesque form.

She turned on hearing Toller enter the room and said, “This is boring. I want to go home.”

“I thought you wanted to see a real live prince at close quarters.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“They’re bound to be here soon,” Toller said. “Why don’t you be like my lord and pass the time by reading?”

Fera mouthed silently, carefully forming the swear words so that there would be no doubt about what she thought of the idea. “It wouldn’t be so bad if there was even some food.”

“But you ate less than an hour ago!” Toller ran a humorously critical eye over his gradewife’s figure. “No wonder you’re getting fat.”

“I’m not!” Fera slapped her belly inwards and contracted her stomach, an action which caused a voluptuous ballooning of her breasts. Toller viewed the display with affectionate appreciation. It was a frequent source of wonder to him that Fera, in spite of her appetite and habit of spending entire days lolling in bed, looked almost exactly as she had done two years earlier. The only noticeable change was that her chipped tooth had begun to turn grey. She devoted much time to rubbing it with white powders, supposed to contain crushed pearls, which she obtained from the Samlue market.

Lord Glo looked up from his book, his clapped-in face momentarily enlivened. “Take the woman upstairs,” he said to Toller. “That’s what I’d do were I five years younger.”

Fera correctly assessed his mood and produced the expected ribaldry, “ I wish you were five years younger, my lord — merely mounting the stairs would be enough to finish my husband.”

Glo gave a gratified whinny.

“In that case, we’ll do it right here,” Toller said. He darted forward, put his arms around Fera and drew her close to him, half-seriously simulating passion. There was an undeniable element of providing sexual titillation for Glo in what he and Fera were doing, but such was the relationship the three had built up that the overriding motif was one of companionship and friendly clowning. After a few seconds of intimate contact, however, Toller felt Fera move against him with a hint of genuine purpose.

“Do you still have the use of your old bedroom?” she whispered, pressing her lips to his ear. “I’m beginning to feel like.…” She stopped speaking and although she remained in his arms he knew that somebody had entered the room.

He turned and saw Gesalla Maraquine regarding him with cool disdain, the familiar expression she seemed to reserve just for him. Her dark filmy clothing emphasised her slimness. It was the first time they had met in almost two years and he was struck by the fact that, as with Fera, her appearance had not altered in any significant way. The sickness associated with her second pregnancy — which had caused her to miss the littlenight meal — had invested her pale features with a near-numinous dignity which somehow made him feel that he was a stranger to all that was important in life.

“Good aftday, Gesalla,” he said. “I see you haven’t lost your knack of materialising at precisely the wrong moment.” Fera slipped away from him. He smiled and looked down at Glo, expecting his moral support, but Glo indulged in playful treachery by gazing fixedly at his book, pretending to be so lost in it that he had been unaware of what Toller and Fera were doing.

Gesalla’s grey eyes considered Toller briefly while she decided if he merited a reply, then she turned her attention to Glo. “My lord, Prince Chakkell’s equerry is in the precinct. He reports that the Princes Chakkell and Leddravohr are on their way up the hill.”

“Thank you, my dear.” Glo closed his book and waited until Gesalla had left the room before baring the ruins of his lower teeth at Toller. “I thought you weren’t…hmm… afraid of that one.”

Toller was indignant. “Afraid? Why should I be afraid?”

“Huh!” Fera had returned to her position by the window. “What was wrong with it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said she came in at the wrong moment. What was wrong with it?”

Toller was staring at her, exasperated and speechless, when Glo tugged his sleeve to signal that he wanted to get to his feet. In the entrance hall there were footfalls and the sound of a man’s voice. Toller helped Glo to stand up and lock the verticals of his cane frame. They walked together into the hall, with Toller inconspicuously taking much of Glo’s weight. Lain and Gesalla were being addressed by the equerry, who was aged about forty and had tallowy skin and out-turned liver-coloured lips. His dark green tunic and breeches were foppishly decorated with lines of tiny crystal beads and he wore the narrow sword of a duellist.