The sea brought gifts to the isle-witch: coral necklaces, shell flutes, glass roses. Once it brought the bones of some great beast that she fit into a skeleton of sleek body and reptilian head, while a pod of curious dolphins visiting her cove looked on. They left the day Rhis finished, as though to spread the news.

He came to her soon after, king of the sea-realm, early to his power. She had been the same.

He wore the tatters of some drowned fool and no shoes. Still, she recognized him; he betrayed himself by his slow steps, the sand between his toes a newfound mystery. His gaze wondered at the clear light of the sun. But when his eyes rested on her, she knew she was nothing unknown to him.

"Isle-witch," he named her, and she set down the hopelessly tangled net she was trying to knot.