The Danols lived on the other side of town and the easiest route would have been a more or less direct walk through the parks at the foot of the low cliffs that here formed the base of the third circle. Instead Merral chose to take a longer route. This took him round the upper promenade, a roadway that overlooked, and in places, almost overhung, Ynysmere Lake. As they walked, Merral found himself the focus of attention for many people and spent a lot of time exchanging greetings or acknowledging the waved and shouted good wishes. But behind all the goodwill, Merral felt the same hunger for reassurance he had felt at the airport. At a craggy point where the promenade turned to the southeast, Merral stopped and looked over the low wall. Below, the steep cliff face fell sharply down to tiered houses, and a hundred meters below, the lake, its waters gleaming pale in the morning light. To the left, beyond the narrow two-kilometer string of the causeway, the land rose toward the green haze of the Great Northern Forest.
