"How adorable," says Bianca, who once used to be sporting, until the sporting injuries became too great to bear. "Is he still alive, your great-uncle? Are you close?"

Bianca is wearing a white satin bathrobe, which she sheds onto the floor the moment she enters the spa, revealing nothing underneath but smooth, pale skin and the contrasting inky hair of her head and pubic mound. She's not tall, but she holds herself as though everyone around her comes up to her shoulders, and she heads right for the sauna without waiting for Amata to get changed.

In the sauna, she lies stretched out like a lizard in the sun.

"So tell me how you met my warden. Have you travelled with him very long?"