'What ho, my old boiler,' she screeched above the din. 'See you turned up, then. Have a drink. Have two. Wotcher, Magrat. Pull up a chair and call the cat a bastard.'
Greebo, who was curled up in the inglenook and watching the festivities with one slit yellow eye, flicked his tail once or twice.
Granny sat down stiffly, a ramrod figure of decency.
'We're not staying,' she said, glaring at Magrat, who was tentatively reaching out towards a bowl of peanuts. 'I can see you're busy. We just wondered whether you might have noticed – anything. Tonight. A little while ago.'
Nanny Ogg wrinkled her forehead.
'Our Darron's eldest was sick,' she said. 'Been at his dad's beer.'
'Unless he was extremely ill,' said Granny, 'I doubt if it was what I was referring to.' She made a complex occult sign in the air, which Nanny totally ignored.
'Someone tried to danee on the table,' she said. 'Fell into our Reet's pumpkin dip. We had a good laugh.'
Granny waggled her eyebrows and placed a meaningful finger alongside her nose.
'I was alluding to things of a different nature,' she hinted darkly.
Nanny Ogg peered at her.
'Something wrong with your eye, Esme?' she hazarded.
Granny Weatherwax sighed.
'Extremely worrying developments of a magical tendency are even now afoot,' she said loudly.
The room went quiet. Everyone stared at the witches, except for Darron's eldest, who took advantage of the opportunity to continue his alcoholic experiments. Then, swiftly as they had fled, several dozen conversations hurriedly got back into gear.
'It might be a good idea if we can go and talk somewhere more private,' said Granny, as the comforting hubbub streamed over them again.
They ended up in the washhouse, where Granny tried to give an account of the mind she had encountered.
'It's out there somewhere, in the mountains and the high forests,' she said. 'And it is very big.'
'I thought it was looking for someone,' said Magrat. 'It put me in mind of a large dog. You know, lost. Puzzled.'
Granny thought about this. Now she came to think of it . . .
'Yes,' she said. 'Something like that. A big dog.'
'Worried,' said Magrat.
'Searching,' said Granny.
'And getting angry,' said Magrat.
'Yes,' said Granny, staring fixedly at Nanny.
'Could be a troll,' said Nanny Ogg. 'I left best part of a pint in there, you know,' she added reproachfully.
'I know what a troll's mind feels like, Gytha,' said Granny. She didn't snap the words out. In fact it was the quiet way she said them that made Nanny hesitate.
'They say there's really big trolls up towards the Hub,' said Nanny slowly. 'And ice giants, and big hairy woss-names that live above the snowline. But you don't mean anything like that, do you?'
'No.'
'Oh.'