"Oh, yes. I too have learned somewhat of these Southlanders. They are more skilled and gracious folk than we. They can speak of wisdom, opening the very heavens as they talk; and their wit is like sunshine skipping over a swift brook; and their verses sing a heart from its body; and their hands shape wood and stone so it seems alive; and love is also a craft to be learned, with a thousand small delights we heavy-footed Northfolk had not dreamed us. Yes, all this I have seen for myself, and it was foolish of me to suppose you were blind." He came back behind her and laid his hands on her waist. "Is it Flavius then that you care for?" "I do not know," she whispered. "But you were never more than a few months' pleasure to him!" cried Eodan. His voice split across. "He swore it was otherwise." Her fingers twisted together, her head wove back and forth as if seeking flight. "I do not know, Eodan--there is a trolldom laid on me, perhaps--though he said he would raise me from all darkness of witches and gods, into a sunlight air where only men dwelt--I do not know!" She tore herself free, whirled about and faced him. "Can you not understand, Eodan? You are dear to me, but I care for him, too! And that is why I am dishonored. It is not that I, a prisoner, lay with him. But I was _his_!" Eodan let his arms fall. "And you still are?" he asked. "I told you I do not know." She stared blindly out to sea. "Now you have heard. Do what you think best." "You can have the cabin for yourself," he said. He wanted to make it a gentle tone, but his words clashed flatly. She fled from him, and he heard the door bang shut upon her. After a long while he looked skyward, found the North Star and measured its position against the moonlit wake. As nearly as he could tell, they were still on course. XI The wind held strong, blowing them toward western Sicily with little work on their own part. Now and again they spoke other ships; this was a well-trafficked sea. Eodan, whose height and accent could never be taken for Italian, followed Phryne's advice and told them he was a Gaul out of Massilia for Apollonia; and then they dipped under the marching horizon. That first day passed somehow. Eodan busied himself with Tjorr, learning what seamanship a surly Demetrios could pass on. He dared hardly speak to Flavius, but the Roman stayed in the forecastle most of the time the Cimbrian was on deck. Hwicca kept her cabin, whelmed by sickness from the roughening sea. It had never before occurred to Eodan that the ills of the body could be merciful. "Do you stay with her the voyage," he told Phryne. "I will take the tent." She stared at him. He barked, as though to a slave: "Do what I say!" Her eyes grew blurred, but she nodded. The crew came on deck, idled in the sun till Tjorr went roaring among them with instruction in the deckhand arts. He had to knock down a couple before he got some obedience. "It were best you keep all the weapons," he said to Eodan.