As we approached the little town, father told us that King Eldrig had assured him that no veterans of the Battle of Vo Mimbre lived here, so we weren’t likely to come across any former comrades-in-arms. We took rooms in the local inn, and even before we were settled in, my father sent Gelane out to cut a couple of fishing poles.

‘Fishing, father?’ I asked. ‘Is this some new pastime? You’ve never taken much interest in it before.’

‘Oh, fishing’s not so bad, Pol. You don’t have to work at it very hard. Eldrig tells me that most of the locals here are enthusiastic about it, though, and this is a way for Gelane to gain access to the town and its people. The region’s supposed to be famous for the trout fishing, and a true fanatic would move anywhere to pursue his hobby. That should explain why he left Sendaria. Nobody really expects rational behavior from a fanatic.’

I was just a little dubious about it. ‘You heard him back on the road, father. He’s not really that interested in fishing.’

Father grinned at me. ‘I can fix that, Pol,’ he assured me. ‘Gelane’s not interested because he’s never caught a big one. I’ll see to it that he takes a large trout in fast water this very afternoon, and that’ll hook him as neatly as he hooks the fish. After today, he’ll be so addicted to trout fishing that it’ll be all he talks – or thinks – about. He won’t even remember the Bear-Cult or his hereditary throne. Have you got plenty of money?’

‘Enough.’ I’ve learned that it’s not a good idea to be very specific about numbers when you’re discussing money with my father.

‘You can go ahead and buy him a shop – and you’ll need a house to live in, but don’t expect him to pay much attention to business.’

‘One fish isn’t going to change him overnight, father.’

There’ll be two fish, Pol – the big one he catches, and the much, much bigger one that gets away from him. I can almost guarantee that he’ll spend the rest of his life chasing that one. I’d imagine that a year from now he’ll have forgotten all about what happened in Seline.’

‘You’re more clever than you look, father.’

‘I know,’ he said with a wicked grin. ‘That’s one of my many gifts, Pol.’

I gathered from the look of disappointed yearning on Gelane’s face that evening that ‘the one that got away’ had been of monumental proportions. It must have been, since the one he did catch and deprecatingly referred to as ‘this minnow’ fed everybody at the inn for two nights running.

‘Hooked him,’ father murmured smugly to me while Gelane was showing off his prize in the common room of the inn.

‘I noticed that,’ I replied. ‘Was the other fish really so big? ’

‘He was the biggest one I could find in that part of the creek. I didn’t submerge myself in his awareness, but I got the impression that he sort of owns a large pool at the foot of a waterfall. Fish have very strange minds. They don’t eat because they’re hungry; they eat to keep other fish from getting all the food. That’s why that big one struck Gelane’s lure.’

‘Did you break Gelane’s fish-line?’

‘No. The fish took care of that all by himself. He’s a clever old fish, and he’s been hooked many times before, so he knows exactly what do to. He jumped just once, and he’s longer than Gelane’s leg. Brace yourself, Pol. You’re going to hear a lot about that fish.’

‘You do realize that what you’re doing is terribly dishonest, don’t you, father?’

‘When has that ever got in my way, Pol? Honesty’s a nice enough thing, I suppose, but I’ve never let it interfere when I was doing something important. That heavy thud on the other end of Gelane’s line and the sight of that monster blasting up out of the depths of that pool is going to keep Gelane out of mischief for the rest of his life, and that’s all I was really after. I’ll stay around here for a few months, but I don’t think it’ll really be necessary. Go ahead and set him up in business, Pol, but don’t expect much work out of him when the fish are biting.’

I had my doubts about father’s little scheme, but the years proved that he was right. Oddly enough, I married a man who’s almost as much a fanatic about fishing as Gelane was. I’m fairly sure, however, that ‘the big one’ wouldn’t have gotten away from my Durnik.

A cabinet-maker in Emgaard had died the week before our arrival, and I was quick enough to get to his bereaved widow before the vultures swooped in. I bought the shop and the attached residence from her before they had the chance to cheat her, and the price I paid her was not only fair, it was generous. Owls, after all, are nicer than vultures. The cabinet shop wasn’t large, but it was big enough for a barrel-maker who hung a ‘gone fishing’ sign on his door quite regularly.

Then winter arrived, and father said his farewells and went off to see if he could locate Chamdar. Gelane made barrels during the day and manufactured fishing lures in the evening. Enalla wasn’t too happy about her husband’s new obsession, but she brightened up when I pointed out that a husband who thinks about fish all the time isn’t likely to become involved with other women.

Aravina died in her sleep one night the following spring, and I couldn’t really pinpoint the cause of her death. I could be melodramatic and say that she’d died of a broken heart, but from a purely physiological point of view, that’s an absurdity. Absurd or not, though, I had a strong suspicion that her periodic bouts of melancholia had in fact contributed to her death.

Gelane and Enalla mourned her loss, of course, but their lives went on. Gelane was a good enough cooper that his local customers were patient with him when the fish were biting. Emgaard is fairly remote, and its nearby streams aren’t heavily fished, so Gelane wasn’t the only businessman in town whose ‘gone fishing’ sign was always handy. They’d gather in the local tavern after the sun went down and talk for hours about their sport. The dry-goods store was attached to the tavern, and I happened to be in that part of the establishment one night while Gelane was over in the tavern picking up tips on how to outsmart trout. The local fishermen were gathered in a semi-circle around the fireplace with their feet up on the hearthstone telling lies for all they were worth. ‘I saw old Crooked Jaw walking on his tail across that pond of his this morning,’ one of them announced. ‘He seems to have come through the winter fairly well.’