'Are you jealous of him?'
Fury stood knee-deep in freezing water. He seemed lost for words. Alison waited and, when he said nothing, she climbed into the coracle beside the boy.
Weasel cast off. 'Start to paddle, Sister. You must learn because I won't be with you when you go back.'
Alison felt a tinge of alarm. 'Why?'
'Adrina has a friend ... there won't be room for me.'
'How will I know how to get back?'
'Fury will take you ... he's good at things like that.'
Alison was stung by the reply. It wasn't so much what the boy said but the way he said it. It was like he was telling her that Fury was good at running away.
She tried not to think of it. The tide was coming up the channel in a series of waves and she needed to pay attention to what she was doing. The first wave struck the coracle and it almost capsized. She paddled furiously, helping Weasel to steer through a tangle of fallen branches.
They entered clear water and her mind turned to questions. The boy was clearly intelligent and probably had a good understanding of the mysterious world she had entered. There was a lot she wanted to know. It was no good asking Fury. He'd been raised by a bunch of priests. And Miralda lived the life of a hermit.
'How do you know Adrina?' she asked.
'We were both adopted by King Pius,' Weasel replied. 'Adrina is of noble birth. I'm of the third rank.'
'How is that?'
'My mother died when I was born and I was left on the steps of the temple of rebirth so the sisters could look after me. Today it's different. The Duideth are in control and people leave babies at the shrine of the Lord Sun. It doesn't make any difference. They all end up with Pius unless they're boys and the Duideth want to keep them.'
'It sounds a very good system,' Alison said. 'The way King Pius looks after unwanted children.'
'The clan chieftains don't think so.' Weasel looked ahead and continued to paddle. 'They think it makes the royal clan too big and powerful. The chieftains want to bring Pius down to size.'
Alison had thought that the politics of her new realm was simple. Now she realised that it was as complicated as that of the realm she had left.
'What's going to happen now that Morgon has been defeated?'
Weasel negotiated a floating log. 'Adrina thinks that Ardolf will take over. He'll get himself made War Master. He's a friend of the Duideth and an enemy of all who walk in the light of the Blessed Lady ... that's what Adrina says.'