They arrived at a small farm at nightfall: the first human inhabitation they had seen all day since leaving Mooncliffe. It was a modest farmhouse, ringed with a long continuous wooden fence surrounding the outside. The main house was painted white and made of wood, with a thatched roof and closed wooden window shutters. It was a quaint little place, reminding Tia of houses from the wizard stories she used to read as a child. She was doubtful there were people living there when she caught sight of the ground floor window showing a flickering lamp light; the rest of the house was dark. There was a two-storey barn house to the back, its double door locked in place by a wooden plank slotted across the middle.

The sun sank from its perch on the edge of the faraway mountains, dissolving the details of their surroundings. The clouds were a dark grey-blue, contrasted by the pale sky behind them; the sky turned from light blue to yellow and then to red blending with the hazy mountains miles away. The houses and trees in the foreground were black against the light sky, clumped together like mysterious smoke creatures. It was very quiet: even the birds had gone back to their nests to rest for the night.

Mommu took the reins from Master Anu.

"I shall make our presence known to the owner of this farm and request shelter for the night," Master Anu said as they dismounted. He pushed his hood back and hesitated. "Perhaps... accompany me to the front door, and then wait outside."

Exhausted, they obeyed. Tia was bending her knees every few minutes, relieving the sore muscles after many hours of riding. She arched her back and rotated her shoulders, but every new movement seemed to cause new aches and pains to appear out of nowhere. Enlil appeared unhindered by any discomfort as he stroked Nutesh, running his hands through its short, curly black hair.

"Mommu, I am tired," Tia said, cracking her neck left and right. Mommu winced at the sounds.

"We will be inside soon."

"But I am tired. It has been hours and I am exhausted."

"But it has been a wonderful journey so far, no?" Enlil quipped, glancing at the house. Several of the wooden shutters were barely hanging onto the house and bits of paint were missing all around the exterior. Weeds peeped through holes between the wooden planks that made up the front entrance and a nearby swing, made of two bits of rope and a plank of wood, secured to a tree, had fallen and was half-lost in the nearby bushes. The grass was very overgrown at the edges, around the fence. It looked like a place that hadn't been tidied in decades.

"It has... But I did not realise it would take so much energy. Enusat's still going strong!" Tia patted her carrier's light brown, short-haired cheek.

The three of them fell silent. Not long after, they heard drifts of conversation as Master Anu and the owner of the farm approached the trio.

"...am very grateful for this kind hospitality, my friend."

"Anything for a Caster of this Kindom. Your lot do so much good for us; it is the least I can do."

"Here are my three companions, please excuse our appearance; it has been a long day." Master Anu appeared with a man holding a lamp, and gestured. "This is Namru, the owner of this farm, and he has very generously offered us shelter for the night. This is Tiamat, Mommu, and Enlil."

Tia grinned despite the tiredness. The owner seemed to be about two decades younger than Master Anu, with a kindly smile and friendly eyes, which were wrinkled at the corners and he had streaks of grey in his dark hair. His light eyes swept over the two boys with a friendly twinkle as he nodded smilingly to them also.

"And you are all Master Anu's students?" he enquired. He had a throaty voice, like those of merchants after a long day at the market.

"Mommu and I are." Tia warmed to the man immediately. "Enlil is Master's assistant. Thank you so much for letting us stay, sir."

"It is nice to have company." The man smiled. "I'm sure my little girl would love to make friends. It's been so long."

"Mommu, I'd like you and Enlil to take the carriers to the barn house, please," the Master said. Mommu grasped the reins of the creatures and Enlil carefully took the oil lamp from the farm owner. Their outlines blended with the shadows, their path marked only by the swaying light of the oil lamp as they trudged their way across the grass. Darkness had fallen. The owner gestured for the Master and Tia through the door.

"You have a child?" Tia asked, brightening up. Namru's eyes twinkled at her.

"Yes, my little Aga – here she is!"

The farmer's face lit up as a young girl, no older than six, made her appearance at the top of the wooden stairs, clad in a long villager's tunic and fur boots. She had the same light eyes as her father, but they were livelier. Long red hair tumbled in curls, which bounced about her shoulder as she thumped her way down.

"Papa, you woke me up!" she exclaimed, slipping her hand into Namru's callused ones. Her father patted her head, his features softening within seconds. Suddenly he looked much younger. "We are having guests? For dinner?" Huge, pale eyes stared up at the two new visitors with curiosity.

"Yes, my dear," came the gentle reply. "Can you to put more of that lamb broth into the pot? I apologise," he added. "Had I known we were having visitors, much less the Windcaster of Mooncliffe, I would have prepared more than yesterday's leftovers."

"Please, do not trouble yourself. We are most grateful for your hospitality."

Tia soon lost interest in the polite, friendly conversation between the two adults and instead gazed around the inside of the house. She caught sight of shelves after shelves of thick books, most of which were covered in dust and looked as though they had not been touched in forever. Cobwebs were strewn across the topmost line of tomes, like netting. Thick layers of dust were on the top of the small cupboards: little balls of grey that congregated in uneven piles. She drew a finger along its side and it came away fluffy. The mirror hung on the wall was so thickly covered in dust that Tia could not see her own reflection in it. This was a house forgotten by time and by its owners.

The whole house was filled with creaky noises and small sounds of wind passing through tiny holes. In the semi-darkness, Tia thought she could hear the groans of the farmhouse, not unlike those coming from the lips of elderly men back in Mooncliffe. She suddenly noticed an orb of light floating in the direction of the open door, and soon she made out the features of her two companions.

"Such an old house," commented Enlil, raising the lamp to his face level so he could better scrutinise the tops of the hallway. The corners were also completely covered with cobwebs. Some parts of the wooden wall had been eaten away, leaving several small holes near the top through which wind escaped, making eerie noises. The flickering light from the oil lamp highlighted the coarse skin on his weather-beaten, tanned face and the short lashes surrounding his pale, distant eyes.

"Have we a meal?" Mommu said, slipping the door shut behind him. Enlil sneezed as dust went up his nose, his arm jerking violently and making the lamp shake. Tia jumped. Shadows raced up and down the walls before they calmed again. "I do not wish to be rude, but I am ever so hungry."

"The farmer's daughter is making some lamb broth for us."

"How very gracious of them," Enlil noted, turning away and moving eagerly towards the dining area.Tia and Mommu quickly followed the light, leaving the hallway behind them plunged into total darkness.

The lamb broth was not as good as the one Tia made at home, but they ate ravenously and appreciatively. After further polite conversation, the farmer showed the boys the spare bedroom, where two rolled-up straw mats and sheets were placed, and gestured for Tia and the little girl to follow him. Aga stopped all of a sudden, her eyes fixated on something.

"A slave!" Aga exclaimed, pointing at the weal on Enlil's wrists. Tia and Mommu's eyes went to the same spot at once. Sure enough, his wrist guard had slipped off and the edge of the weal peeped out from underneath. The slave's lips closed so tightly they disappeared.

"What's wrong with that?" Tia said, with a small frown. Aga turned to look at her, light eyes filled with surprise.

"I have never met one before! Papa says slaves are good people," she said earnestly, turning to look again at Enlil, who had visibly relaxed. "He said they are people who have undergone hardship much worse than we have, and we should count ourselves lucky! And he said also slaves are very hard-working people so we should learn from them. I have never seen one before." She raised a tiny hand to touch his scar, but Enlil jerked out of the way, tugging his guard back in place. He had a small smile on his face.

"Your papa is a very wise man," he said quietly.

"Papa is lovely." Her smile was sweet and genuine.

"Aga!" Her father's voice came from upstairs. She jumped and tugged at Tia. Tia allowed herself to be dragged away and found herself standing in Aga's bedroom, where the young girl dug out an extra feather pillow and placed it carefully next to her own, on her bed.

"What's your name?" Aga suddenly demanded.

"T-Tiamat." Tia approached Aga and squatted in front of the little girl, meeting the light eyes with her own green ones. "But call me Tia. What is yours?"

"A-ga-sa-ya," the girl enunciated, and then smiled triumphantly, little teeth gleaming in the light.

"Like our princess?"

"Papa said Mama named me after the princess. He said Mama thought I was every bit as pretty as her." The pride was evident in her little, cheerful voice. Her face glowed at the memory. "Mama was very pretty, too. Papa says I look like her," she said as Tia placed the lamp on a sturdy wooden table nearby.

The light threw dancing shadows onto the painted wooden walls, which then settled down. There were mythical creatures painted all over the room: dragons, unicorns, princes and princesses, kings and queens, castles with high towers and knights charging bravely into battle. The delicate detail would make any child envious. The characters were obviously from a child's fairy-tale book, worlds of fantasy not unlike the places Master Anu had travelled to as far as Tia was concerned. The paintings were obviously done many years ago; several parts had begun to wear away and the princess's lush red gown had turned a pale pink.

"We can share my bed tonight, Tia," Aga said, jumping onto it and bouncing up and down. "Just like Mama and I used to."

 "What happened to your Mama?"

Aga's face fell as she stopped bouncing, her doll-like lips turning down at the corners, and Tia immediately felt guilty.

"Mama has gone on to a happy place now," Aga said in a small voice. Her eyes were downcast and her shoulders hunched. Her little hands shook as they clasped together tightly. "She misses Papa and me and she loves us very much, but it was time for her to go. Papa said one day he will go join Mama too and when I've been a good girl and done good things in this life, I will join her too."

Tia was astonished by the maturity in her voice. She fidgeted, speechless. Her heart was heavy in her chest and she didn't know what to do with the overwhelming sadness that washed over her.

"It has been just you and your papa all this time?" she said at length. Aga nodded. Tia got up and sat beside her on the bed. The little girl snuggled automatically against the trainee.

"Papa is doing so much." Her voice became even smaller. "He has the farm to run and all the errands to do, and the selling and buying and cleaning and cooking and everything. And it is so hard on poor Papa – we do not have enough helpers and he is always so tired and worried that the taxman will take everything away. I–I want to help, but he keeps saying I am too small, too young, too little." She sounded indignant, abruptly sitting up straight with a scowl. "I will grow to be a big girl one day and he will not have to work so hard any more. I shall take over all the jobs he has to do and make lots of money. Papa can just sit back and read his big books and laugh like we used to. He has not laughed in so long." Her voice became small again, drooping.

Tia patted the girl's fluffy hair at the mournful tone. Aga clung to her again, snuffling, letting out little sighs of satisfaction as Tia hand-combed the red curls. It was like when Tia had first received Enusat, the rambunctious courier calf that had been no taller than her shoulder. It was a feisty thing that kicked, bit and headbutted her regularly until she fought and succeeded in becoming superior. The unconditional affection and eagerness to be close that subsequently came with Enusat's love was not unlike what Aga was displaying there, with her head on the trainee's lap.

When the little girl fell asleep, Tia gingerly shifted her weight onto the bed and eased herself away so that she would not wake the farmer's daughter. She blew out the lamp, plunging the room into pitch darkness, and tiptoed downstairs.

She crept through the darkness, one hand touching the wall to guide her path and the other hand held in front of her to stop her crashing into anything. Turning round the corner, she then made a left past the main room into the spare room.

She stifled a squeal as her foot sank into something warm and soft, and a groan filled the darkness.