Iorek espied Lee as he walked off the narrowboat and leapt with ease onto the towpath, striding to catch up with the aeronaut.

'She headed inland,' the bear told him without preamble. 'I will take you in the right direction.'

'She crying?'

'No, but I could tell she was unhappy.'

'Damnit,' grumbled Lee. 'How the hell am I meant to straighten this out?'

'You ain't,' said Hester firmly. 'What happens between Lyra and her father is for them to deal with. You're just here to help her as much as you can.'

'That is true,' grunted Iorek. 'You made your feelings plain to Asriel. Now, go and make them plain to Lyra.'

'Cripes,' sighed Lee. Heart-to-hearts weren't his area of expertise. But for Lyra's sake, he'd try his best.

They walked on a little further in the direction Lyra had headed, hunting for any sign of her curled up in some hidey-hole or perched upon a wall or causing havoc upon a Gyptian narrowboat. There was no sign of her, and Lee was just contemplating heading back and asking Ma and Tony Costa for help in searching for her when Serafina Pekkala appeared in front of them.

'She's by the oak tree, Mr Scoresby,' she told him. Lee knew exactly where the witch-queen meant and veered off the towpath with a nod of thanks. He heard Iorek following behind him and wondered whether the bear would have anything to say or if he'd just watch Lee squirm and probably make a complete fool of himself.

Then the copse with the oak tree loomed before them. Lee took a deep breath and strode forward.

Lyra was crouched at the base of the oak, Pantalaimon an ermine within her embrace. Lee couldn't see her face, as she was staring hard at the ground, bedraggled hair concealing her expression. She wasn't sniffling or whimpering, tough article that she was, but dejection suffused every inch of her, from her limp fingers to her bowed head.

Lee walked over and settled himself beside her. Lyra turned her face from him, but Lee wasn't offended. He sat still and waited.

'What do you want?' Lyra asked sulkily after a minute or so. The question flummoxed Lee for a moment – what did he want? To take Lyra's pain away? To smack Asriel upside the head? To tell her what her father thought didn't matter? He wanted to do all three, but he couldn't do the first, the second wouldn't serve any purpose aside from relieving Lee's feelings for a brief moment, and the third would be cruel and pointless. Lee cared nothing for Asriel's good opinion, but it was blindingly obvious that Lyra did.

Lee wondered deliriously about the best way to answer. As usual, he decided on the truth.

'To tell you I don't agree with Asriel, for what it's worth,' he said, studying the sky rather than Lyra. 'I told him so, as well.'

'He won't listen to you,' Lyra muttered.

'But it needed to be said,' Lee answered without missing a beat.

For a few minutes, they sat alone together. The breeze stirred the leaves of the oak tree and ruffled Lyra's hair. Lee removed his hat so as to let the cool wind play across his face, the way it did when he was soaring high above the earth.

'He's so demanding,' Lyra said all of a sudden. Lee looked towards her sharply and saw she'd raised her head and that her eyes were glinting with familiar temper. 'He expects me to be perfect! To be everything! I mustn't bother him, and I can't leave his sight, he wants me to do everything he tells me even if it's stupid, I can't ask questions and he expects me to know it all, and even when I manage to do what he wants all he says is "can't you do that all the time?" and when I make a mistake, he acts like I'm invisible! I finally thought I'd done something right, and now – argh! He got himself caught! He's stupider than I ever was! Why am I getting upset? It's all stupid!'

Lyra sprang to her feet, dislodging Pantalaimon, and aimed a kick at the unsuspecting oak. Lee hid a grin of relief and also got to his feet.

'I think your father was too hard on you, kid,' he said. 'You know what I think of everything that's happened. But, Lyra, at the end of the day he's your father and it's not surprising you care about his opinion.'

'I wish I didn't,' Lyra muttered.

'But you do,' Lee returned mildly. 'The thing is, honey, some peoples' opinions matter more than others. But the one that really matters in a situation like this is yours. Do you think you screwed up?'

The question, delivered so directly, gave Lyra pause. She stopped kicking the oak tree and looked up at Lee.

'I bit you when I wasn't meant to,' she began, a trifle uncertainly. Lee shook his head.

'That was an accident, honey, nothing more. What about everything else you've done since then?'

Lyra pondered the question seriously for a few moments.

'I made some mistakes,' she said thoughtfully, her anger receding a little. 'Like going running off by myself in the woods when the hunters were around. But I didn't mess everything up. I helped rescue Tony and Derrick, and I taught you and I helped heal Iorek and then led Father to safety. No, I didn't screw up.'

'Then we're in agreement,' Lee smiled. Lyra smiled back. Her expression was watery, but then she reached for Lee and wrapped her arms tight round him in a hug. He hugged her back, planting a kiss on the crown of her head.

The moment was shattered by a harumph of disapproval from Iorek. Lee and Lyra pulled apart to find Asriel standing at the edge of the spinney, staring at them stonily. Iorek had inserted himself between Asriel and the other wolfwalkers and was watching the former, the expression on his bearish face not at all welcoming.

'Lyra, we need to talk,' Asriel said, voice toneless. 'Mr Scoresby, Iorek Byrnison, would you mind?'

Lee glanced down at Lyra.

'Go on,' she said. 'I'll be fine.'

Lee nodded and strode off back towards the river, deliberately not looking at Asriel as he passed him. Behind him, he heard Iorek's low, rumbling voice raised ever-so-slightly in warning.

'If you take your temper out on her again, Asriel, you will answer to me,' the armoured bear growled, and stalked off behind Lee. Neither of them spoke again until they were back on the towpath. Serafina Pekkala wasn't there and Lee guessed she'd gone flying or for another talk with Farder Coram.

'What now?' Iorek asked Lee.

'Let's if we can scrounge a cup of coffee from somewhere,' answered Lee. 'And after, I want a word with Ma Costa.'

'Why her?'

'Because I get the feeling she knows more about Lyra and Asriel than she's letting on, and I'm mighty curious about it,' said Lee, and led the way back to the Costa narrowboat.

#

Ma Costa was waiting for Lee as he came striding up the riverbank and invited him back onboard with a wave of her hand. Tony Costa and Derrick were there also and helped Iorek conceal himself under his trusty tarpaulin before Tony dragged a doe-eyed Derrick off to see if Lord Faa wanted anything.

Ma Costa took Lee down into the narrowboat kitchen and served him with an excellent cup of coffee before she began questioning him about Lyra.

'I think she's a bit better than she was,' Lee answered frankly. 'I told her that what really matters here is her opinion of how she did with Asriel missing. She knows she's made a few mistakes, but overall, she thinks she's done good, and I agree with her. I told her so.'

Ma Costa beamed approval of these words.

'That's more like it,' she smiled. 'I'm glad she's found you, Mr Scoresby. Lord Asriel's a great man in many ways, but he's about as loving – and loveable – as barbed wire. Lyra needs love, all children do.'

Lee took a sip of his coffee to avoid having to answer. He loved Lyra, of course he did, but now she had her father back, and Lee had no choice but to step aside, even if Asriel was a bastard. Besides, despite Lyra's claiming of him as pack, Lee had the uncomfortable feeling that there was no wolfpack in the world with room enough for both him and Asriel.

'She's a right one,' Ma Costa continued, thankfully not expecting an answer from him. 'She's a cheeky little sod when she's a mind to be, but she's got a heart as big as this boat. I've known her since she was a baby.'

'Mmm,' answered Lee. 'Ma Costa, something I've been wondering. When we were speaking with you yesterday, Lyra let slip Asriel was her father, and none of you were the slightest bit surprised. The thing is, for eleven years, everyone believed he was her uncle – Lyra included. How is it you know things about her that even she doesn't?'

Ma Costa's smile faded, and her eyes lost their knowing sharpness, turning soft and unfocused as they sought some bittersweet memory, hidden amongst hundreds of thousands of her recollections. Lee sipped his coffee and waited.

'How much do you know about Lyra's past?' Ma Costa asked Lee eventually.

'About as much as she does,' Lee shrugged. 'Asriel had an affair with a married woman, and Lyra was born. When the woman found out about his being a wolfwalker, she tried to exploit him and Lyra. He hid her away at Jordan College, making out he was her uncle, till she turned out to be a wolfwalker herself.'

'That's roughly true,' Ma Costa acknowledged. 'But the real story's a lot messier. Mr Scoresby, I'm going to tell you everything I know, 'cause I reckon you deserve it for looking after Lyra so well. Asriel did have an affair with a married woman, many years ago. She was married to a politician, a rising man. Future Prime Minister, a lot of people thought. When Lyra was born though, it was obvious she was Asriel's child. So, the woman gave out that the baby died at birth, and she handed Lyra over to a Gyptian woman to nurse.'

'Was that…' Lee began, and Ma Costa nodded.

'Yeah, that was me. I'd just had my youngest, Billy, and she paid me handsomely to look after Lyra too. She was a sweet baby – fretty, but sweet. Anyhow, I took care of her for a couple of months, and that was when the trouble started. The woman, she came back for Lyra. Asriel too, to the house where we was staying. They were having the worst argument you ever heard – shouting, screaming, whacking at each other. I didn't understand most of it, not then, but it was something about her wanting what he'd got, him not giving it…'

'She wanted to be a wolfwalker too,' Lee guessed, recalling what Lyra had told him about her mother wanting to train her, to experiment on her.

'Yeah, I suppose that was it,' Ma Costa resumed thoughtfully. 'At the time I thought it was something daft, her wanting his heart or some romantic nonsense like that. But they were yelling fit to wake the dead. I took Lyra and tried to hide, and it was a mercy I did. The woman's husband, the politician – he came bursting in. He knew about the affair, someone had told him or he'd found some clue.'

'Ouch,' Lee winced.

'Yeah, that about sums it up,' sighed Ma Costa. 'The men fought. The politician had a gun, but Asriel knocked it out of his hand. They traded a few blows, then the politician went screeching through the house, looking for his wife's bastard brat – that's what he called Lyra – shrieking he was going to kill her. He found where I was hiding, in a cupboard, and he was just about to force the door open when someone shot him.'

'Holy hell,' breathed Lee. 'Were you both all right?'

'Fine and dandy, though Lyra and her daemon were screaming their heads off,' Ma Costa recalled. 'The politician weren't as lucky. He died almost at once. Asriel told me to come out, cool as paint, and I did, the dead man lying at my feet. Good job I never minded the sight of blood, it were all over the place. Even on the blasted ceiling.'

'Do you know who shot him?' Lee enquired.

'Not a clue, Mr Scoresby,' Ma Costa admitted. 'I thought it was Asriel for a long time, but lately I've been thinking it might've been Lyra's mother. She weren't much of a ma, but having a child changes a woman.'

'I'll take your word for it,' Lee said. 'And then?'

'Then Asriel sent the woman packing, told her never to come near him or Lyra again,' Ma Costa told him. 'And off she went. He told me to swab the floor, get rid of the blood, and then he goes sauntering off with the dead man over his shoulder as if the body were a sack of spuds. He came back after an hour or so, no corpse with him, and told me he'd be leaving that very night and taking Lyra with him.'

Lee whistled in astonishment.

'So far as I know, no-one ever found out what became of that politician,' Ma Costa continued. 'There was a big hue and cry of course – an important man vanishing into thin air, but they never found a trace of him. Asriel had covered his tracks far too well, and I never said a word – not to anyone in power, at any rate. Lyra's mother was a social pariah for years. No-one could prove anything against her, but there was all kinds of rumours swirling about. Someone alleged the politician's wife had a lover who murdered him, which wasn't too far from the truth, but they never uncovered no details.'

'Next thing we know Asriel and the baby was reported missing in a shipwreck, and the baby was supposed to have drowned. I was fair cut up, but then good old Bernie at Jordan College told us Asriel had left a baby there, saying it was his niece, and we guessed it was Lyra.'

'And Bernie Johansen kept an eye on her for you?' Lee suggested and was gratified to see Ma Costa nodding.

'He has done, for years,' Ma Costa told him. 'Until last year, when Asriel fetched her away. We haven't seen hide nor hair of her until you two showed up yesterday. We always knew Asriel was hiding a secret of some sort, but this wolfwalker business… I was shocked to my soul.'

'It's a surprising business,' Lee agreed drily. Hester harrumphed at him.

'I'm glad she's got you looking out for her now, though,' Ma Costa finished. Lee shifted uncomfortably, as thoughts of his clash with Asriel and his uncertain status with the other wolfwalker reared up in his mind. But then another thought displaced them.

'Ma Costa, you've told me all you know except one thing,' he mused out loud. 'Who Lyra's mother is. Who is she?'

Ma Costa studied him for a long moment, her eyes fierce and appraising. Her hawk daemon stared balefully from where he was perched atop a shelf, but then hopped onto Ma Costa's shoulder and whispered something in her ear.

'The politician who was killed, his name was Edward Coulter,' Ma Costa answered in a rush. 'And his wife, Lyra's mother… her name is Marisa Coulter. She's the woman leading the wolf hunt for the Council.'

'Ah, hell,' muttered Lee.

Author's Notes: I wanted to stick as closely as possible to the original story here, but if there had been a huge court case involving the murder of an eminent politician, it would have been nigh on impossible for Lyra and Asriel to remain hidden and fly below the Magisterium's radar. So in my story, someone quite literally gets away with murder (I know who it was, but I'm not telling...)

Also, look out Lee, I think Ma Costa's got a job in mind for you, one that Asriel ain't too good at... but whether it comes to pass is another matter. Lyra still hero-worships Asriel and Lee's not certain he's up to the task, but I suspect coming events might alter their perspectives.

Till next time, dear readers...