'Who?' said Yolande.

'Immacolata.'

'Not ours!' Messimeris protested. 'Not one of ours.'

'Well she's certainly no Cuckoo!' Suzanna retorted, her patience beginning to wear thin. She took a step towards Messimeris, who took a firmer grip of Delphi's arm, as if he might use his colleague as a shield should push come to shove.

'Every one of us is in danger.' she said, 'and if you don't see that then all your sacred places - not just Capra's House, all of them - they'll be wiped away. All right, you've got reason not to trust me. But at least give me a hearing.'

The room had fallen pin-drop quiet.

Tell us what you know.' said Tung.

'Not all that much,' Suzanna admitted. 'But I know you've got enemies here in the Fugue, and God knows how many more outside.'

'What do you suggest we do about it?' said a new voice, from somewhere in Delphi's faction.

'We fight.' said Yolande.

'You'll lose.' Suzanna replied.

The other woman's fine features grew tight. 'Defeatism from you too?' she said.

'It's the truth. You've got no defences against the Kingdom.'

'We have the raptures.' said Yolande.

'Do you want to make weapons of your magic?' Suzanna replied. 'Like Immacolata? If you do that, you may as well call yourself Cuckoos.'

This argument won some murmurs of assent from the assembly; and sour stares from Yolande.

'So we have to re-weave.' said Messimeris, with some satisfaction. 'Which is what I've been saying from the outset.'

'I agree.' said Suzanna.

At this, the room erupted afresh, Yolande's voice rising above the din: 'No more sleep!' she said. 'I will not sleep!'

Then you'll all be wiped out.' Suzanna yelled back.

The din subsided a little.

This is a cruel century.' said Suzanna.

'So was the last.' somebody commented. 'And the one before that!'

'We can't hide forever,' said Yolande, appealing to the room. Her call received considerable support, despite Suzanna's intervention. And indeed it was difficult not to sympathize with her case. After so much sleep, the idea of consigning themselves to the dreamless bed of the Weave could not be attractive.

'I'm not saying you should stay in the carpet for long.' said Suzanna. 'Just until a safe place can be -'

'I've heard all of this before,' Yolande broke in. 'We'll wait, we said, we'll keep our heads low 'til the storm blows over.'

There are storms and storms.' said a man somewhere at the back of the crowd. His voice penetrated the clamour with ease, though it was scarcely more than a whisper. This in itself was enough to make the argument die down.

Suzanna looked in the direction of the sound, though she could not yet see the speaker. It came again:

'If the Kingdom destroys you ...' the voice said, '. .. then all my Mimi's pain was for nothing .. .'

The Councillors were stepping aside as the speaker moved through them towards the centre of the room. He came into view. It took Suzanna several seconds to realize that she'd seen this face before, and another beat to remember where: in the portrait on Mimi's bedroom wall. But the faded photograph had failed to convey more than a hint of the man's presence; or indeed of his physical beauty. It wasn't difficult, seeing the way his eyes flickered, and his close-cropped hair flattered the curve of his skull, to understand why Mimi had slept beneath his gaze all her lonely life. This was the man she'd loved. This was - 'Romo.' he said, addressing Suzanna. 'Your grandmother's first husband.'

How had he known, sleeping in the Weave, that Mimi had taken a human husband? Had the air told him that tonight?

'What do you want here?' said Tung. 'This isn't a public thoroughfare.'

'I want to speak on behalf of my wife. I knew her heart better than any of you.'

'That was years ago, Romo. Another life.'

Romo nodded.

'Yes .. .' he said. 'It's gone, I know. So's she. All the more reason I speak for her.'

Nobody made any attempt to silence him.

'She died in the Kingdom.' he said, 'to keep us from harm.

She died without trying to wake us. Why was that? She had ev^ry reason to want the unweaving. To be relieved of her duties; and be back with me.'

'Not necessarily -' Messimeris said.

Romo smiled. 'Because she married?' he said. 'I would have expected no less. Or because she'd forgotten? No. Never.' He spoke with such authority, yet so gently, everyone in the room attended to him. 'She didn't forget us. She simply knew what her granddaughter knows. That it isn't safe.'

Yolande went to interrupt, but Romo raised his hand.

'A moment, please.' he said. Then I'm going. I've got business elsewhere.'

Yolande closed her mouth.

'I knew Mimi better than any of you. As far as I'm concerned we parted only yesterday. I know she guarded the Weave as long as she had breath and wit to do so. Don't waste her agonies by throwing us into the hands of our enemies just because you get a whiff of freedom in your nostrils.'

'Easy for you to say.' Yolande replied.

'I want to live again as much as you do.' Romo told her. 'I stayed here because of my children, thinking - the way we all thought - that we'd be awake in a year or two. Now look. We open our eyes, and the world has changed. My Mimi died an old woman, and it's the child of her child who stands in her place to tell us that we are as close to extinction as ever. I believe she speaks with Mimi's blessing. We should listen to her.'

'What do you advise?' said Tung.

'Advise?' Yolande said. 'He's a lion-tamer, why should we listen to his advice?'

'I suggest we re-weave.' said Romo, ignoring her outburst. 'Re-weave before the Cuckoos come amongst us. Then we find somewhere safe, somewhere we can unweave again in our own time, where the Cuckoos won't be waiting at the border. Yolande's right.' he said, looking at her. 'We can't hide forever. But facing tomorrow morning in this chaotic state isn't courage, it's suicide.'

The speech was neatly argued, and it clearly impressed a good number of the assembly.