( Another wave of the hand, and she allows the search of her possessions: they lack in all signs of magical tampering or presence. On her smallest service table, wine and opiates, as she had indicated — strong powders, but they too lack any magical intervention. The wine, while rich, is common. )

Of course. We were friends and children together. Macaluso has... ( Here, the roll of her eyes. ) A romanticised vision of what cousins can achieve together in union. He has trailed after my skirts as long as I remember.

( And her memory runs long. ) He knows. If I could identify a pattern, there would be no need for you, any of you. Sometimes, I laugh with grandfather when I take sick over my wine, and so does he, and we agree: perhaps I was born with my spirit aged, and my body now and then remembers it.