"Would you mind if I came along too?" the widow asked three nights later as Hella yawned and prepared for another fishing mission. The young priestess hadn't quite adjusted to these nightshifts, sleeping in the day and waking in the early evening to share a meal with Jodyth and Gemulae before they went to bed. But there had been two successful expeditions returning enough tasty klapperfish to supplement the city food supplies and hold famine at bay.

Hella's newfound importance to the stability and happiness of the city could not be doubted. Maris was keeping the same hours and he had offered to accompany her for as long as she wanted, which at least so far, was on every voyage. Next week, if they could both stay awake long enough, the prince had promised to take her to the workshops where the new nets were being created and Hella was excited to see what progress had been made and what problems the weavers were encountering. They were keen to study her special net again for inspiration.

Then too, Hella wanted to spend some time practicing in private with her new flute. She was working on a composition of her own and couldn't wait to play it for Maris when it was ready. She was so busy thinking about the duties and pleasures ahead of her, that for a minute she missed the import of the widow's words.

"I have a little favour to ask of the prince. I want him to take me to the island of Zurle, if he would be so good as to oblige me, for I am afraid I must be going."

There was an intake of breath and a murmur of consternation, because the priestesses were surprised how much they had come to rely on the widow, if for nothing else other than her cooking and her organising skills in the temple.

"I didn't come here just to save the city," Pruth said when Gemulae observed that matters weren't yet settled. "You'll be fine without me now. Hella has the net and Maris has a sound head on his shoulders. They've come up with a good plan and I'm sure it will succeed with the energy, intelligence and hard work they are both willing and able to supply. It must be exhausting to be so young. Not that I can remember it! But as for me, I have some business to attend to with some old colleagues I haven't seen in a long time. We need to get together and see if we can get that husband of mine out of the mess he seems to be in, trying to fix this problem with the sun."

"I thought you were a widow?" Hella blurted.

"Yes. I did allow you all to think that didn't I? Although no-one ever asked me outright. The truth is that I may be. I don't know. I haven't seen my husband for a long time, and I fear that even if I am not really a widow, my husband now needs to be rescued. For that I'm going to require a lot of help. Findil's help will be a start. I've done enough here to attract his attention, so I want to see what the old rogue has to say for himself. Then we'll round up the others. It's Old God business but if we succeed we can end this drought."

Naturally, when Maris heard what Pruth wanted, he wasn't going to refuse although he begged leave to fish again first with Hella, which his passenger agreed to easily enough with an airy wave. Once they'd fulfilled their immediate duties to the city and unloaded enough of a catch to keep the markets stocked, he sent a message to the palace that they would be gone for three days, it being a somewhat longer voyage, there and back, than they were accustomed to making.

"We'll fish again on the return journey," he said to Hella.

And so the Pride of Laque took the goddess to the island of Zurle just as she had asked. Hella was getting so accustomed to the motion of the waves that instead of feeling sick it actually lulled her to sleep and she fell into an exhausted slumber as the vessel took them out to sea. To everyone's surprise and pleasure, it rained in the early dawn light when they were close to the hilly western shores of the island and Hella was rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"So Mald hasn't entirely forgotten how to do her duty," Pruth said, seeming well pleased. "It's difficult for her but I know she does her best."

There was a natural harbour in a narrow inlet which Maris knew well when Pruth had described where she wished to disembark, and although the rain stopped before they reached it, there was still a pleasing and unusual humidity in the air. Maris rowed Hella and the widow to the beach and there Hella said her final goodbyes to the goddess, whilst the prince looked to see if he could find fresh water, which was always a bonus when it was available.

"I have given my net to you," Pruth said to Hella when Maris was out of hearing. "Not to the Fisher King, not to your prince and not to the city but to you. You gave me your hair freely and because of your hair, the net will answer to you and to your children and your children's children for as long as you have heirs."

"Maris is a nice, kind man and he wants the best for you but don't let him take the net for granted. Or you. You're just a little too trusting Hella. That's all I'm saying."

"You mean too trusting, as in the way I let an Old God trick me out of giving her my once and future hair?" Hella said with a smile.

"Exactly!" Pruth cackled in agreement. "Far too trusting. Don't do that again. Unless it's me, of course."

They shared a final hug and then the widow hobbled off into the forest of dwarf sea oaks that rose into the hills, and Hella never saw her again.