were tears in the voice of the tyrannous Sea, for he had loved the
galleons that he had overwhelmed, and he called all men to him and all
living things that he might make amends, because he had loved the bones
that he had strewn afar. And Athelvok turned and set one foot upon the
crumbled slope, and then another, and walked a little way to be nearer to
the Sea, and then a dream came upon him and he felt that men had wronged
the lovely Sea because he had been angry a little, because he had been
sometimes cruel; he felt that there was trouble among the tides of the Sea
because he had loved the galleons who were dead. Still he walked on and
the crumbled stones rolled with him, and just as the twilight faded and a
star appeared he came to the golden shore, and walked on till the surges
were about his knees, and he heard the prayer-like blessings of the Sea.
Long he stood thus, while the stars came out above him and shone again in
the surges; more stars came wheeling in their courses up from the Sea,
lights twinkled out through all the haven city, lanterns were slung from
the ships, the purple night burned on; and Earth, to the eyes of the gods
as they sat afar, glowed as with one flame. Then Athelvok went into the
haven city; there he met many who had left the Inner Lands before him;
none of them wished to return to the people who had not seen the Sea; many
of them had forgotten the three little kingdoms, and it was rumoured that
one man, who had once tried to return, had found the shifting, crumbled
slope impossible to climb.

Hilnaric never married. But her dowry was set aside to build a temple
wherein men curse the ocean.

Once every year, with solemn rite and ceremony, they curse the tides of
the Sea; and the moon looks in and hates them.