Atlon stood back, watching the scene. For a moment he felt like an intruder. It was obvious that Heirn had performed this duty many times before, and under less than happy circumstances, he suspected.
Then Pinnatte waved him aside. This too, was something that Heirn was obviously used to. Atlon looked away as the big man hesitantly stood up. Then he turned to Pinnatte.
‘Tell me what happened.’
Pinnatte hugged his hand to his body and looked back at him suspiciously.
‘Tell me what happened,’ Atlon said again, more forcefully this time.
‘Just a dream,’ Pinnatte said hurriedly. ‘You said I might have dreams. It was...’
Atlon was shaking his head. ‘It was the same as you had last night, wasn’t it? The one you’ve been fretting about, on and off, all day. The one that made you hesitate whe
