Temeraire is halfway to shaking his head when he stops and nods slowly instead. "We used to go to a temple, near my village, and sweep the ancestral graves, and light incense for them. But we would do it in the spring, not the autumn: I do not think there would be much point in sweeping a grave, only for it to be buried by leaves and snow immediately after."

He is quiet for a moment, watching the candles flicker in their trays, before he ventures, "Is that what these are for? Prayers to the dead?"