A short story set five years after The Amber Spyglass and two years before The Secret Commonwealth. Lyra and Pantalaimon return to the northern town of Trollesund – where they first met Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby – accompanying an archaeological expedition. But Lyra has a private purpose: to seek out the witch-consul Dr Lanselius and ask about a secret condition that has haunted her since the events of the trilogy – the disturbing discovery that she and Pan can separate, something no human and dæmon should be able to do. What unfolds is a quiet, revelatory conversation that foreshadows the central crisis of The Book of Dust. Originally written in 2004 for a charity auction at the National Theatre, published sixteen years later.