“Ah, thank you,” Tessia’s father said. “Place them over here, and here.”

“Is there anything else you require?” the servant asked. “Water? Cloth?”

“At the moment what I need more than anything else is information. How did this happen?”

“I’m... I’m not sure. I did not witness it.”

“Did anyone? It is easy to miss an injury when there are so many. A description of where each blow fell—”

“Nobody saw,” the man said quickly. “None but Lord Dakon, this slave and his master.”

Slave? Tessia looked down at the injured man. Of course. The tanned skin and broad features were typically Sachakan. Suddenly the Sachakan magician’s interest made sense.

Her father sighed. “Then fetch us some water, and I will write a list of supplies for you to collect from my wife.”

The house master hurried away. Tessia’s father looked at her, his expression grim. “It will be a long night for you and me.” He smiled faintly. “I have to wonder, at times like these, if you are tempted by your mother’s vision of your future.”

“At times like these it never crosses my mind,” she told him. Then she added quietly, “This time we may succeed.”

His eyes widened, then his shoulders straightened a little. “Let’s get started, then.”

Playing host to a Sachakan magician was never easy and rarely pleasant. Of all the tasks required of Lord Dakon’s servants, feeding their guest had caused the most distress. If Ashaki Takado was served a dish he recognised as one he’d eaten before he would reject it, even if he had enjoyed it. He disliked most dishes and he had a large appetite, so at each meal many, many more courses had to be prepared than were normally required to feed two people.

The reward for enduring the fussiness of this guest was a great surfeit of food, which was shared among the household afterwards. If Takado stays for many more weeks I will not be surprised to find my servants have begun to get a little rotund, Dakon mused. Still, I am sure they would much rather the Sachakan moved on.