"Oh, how fun!" says Alexia, seeing the sign. "Well, I've got a bit of money to spare at the moment, and I wouldn't want you to starve.

"And I haven't posed for a portrait since I was about fifteen, when my family had one done, now that I think of it." Perhaps they would have done another when Ysolda was older, but things had gotten a bit... busy after that. "Where should I sit?"