Tynan looked hard at the collar. "I think," he said slowly, raising his eyes to Arum. "You really are a Priest of Mezen."

"No, really?" Arum said, showing a surprising burst of spirit in sarcasm.

"A Priest with a capital P." Tynan said irritatedly. "Not like the syncophants we get these days, getting drunk off the offerings. Priests like the ones of old with bellies full of fire and bile, who had real Belief in Mezen. He was said to reward this kind of Belief with power. 'A sign unto the multitudes that thou art mine - I shalt give thee fire within thy heart , for it was I who doth shapeth the heart unto like a flame.' So the Lacuna of Mezen says, anyway."

They stared at him astonishment. "You don't have to look at me that way," Tynan muttered. "I wasn't born a druid, I know about the Lacuna, obviously."

"But how do you know what's in the Lacuna?" Adam asked. "The Lacuna are the missing letters, sacred scripture. Only priests are allowed to learn from them. Everyone else uses the Words of Mezen."

"Really? How clever of you. Anyway," Tynan went on, letting the matter drop. "Everyone had thought the fire was some kind of symbol or metaphor. But Araawan folk tales speak of Druidic battles with Mezen's Priests back in the old days - between forest and fire. Maybe... maybe this fire is real."

"Ransik died in an explosion," Feather said thoughtfully. "What was the room he was in?"

"The records store." Arum replied.

"I hardly think there would be anything that volatile in a room full of paper," she frowned. "I think he had this power too. He was your master, he must have taught you differently. That must be why you're not like the other priests - or anyone else for that matter."

Tynan bristled at that.