We women. For the first time, the words sounded good; sensuous in the mouth. The women ran from the pool down to the sea. It was cold; the water glimmered green and silver with phosphorescence. It was thrilling; feet sunk in sand, toes barely gripping on to the island’s edge. Eva and Zoe went with them, hand in hand – the almost-teenage girl, the almost-old woman—

JUDGE: How did you feel about your work, at this point?

INGA: By the time AWC was set up I was burnt-out, really. I had begun to suspect that we were just tinkering; imitating. After all we’d achieved, I was like, Is this it? Is this how power feels? It felt empty. Something about it wasn’t going to the essence of what really mattered to me, as a woman. I didn’t even know what it was, that essence.

JUDGE: So what changed?

INGA: Jen was absorbed in her documentation project – she wanted every single thing to be replicable elsewhere. Like a franchise. Eva had Zoe to bring up, and the female epics collection work she was doing with Alice. That was her spiritual outlet. But what did I have? It was Eva who suggested I go to Cwen. I had always known she liked the island, but thanks to her, I saw how, for the sake of the future, we need to use the past. That healer saint is still with us. We forgot her, neglected her, along with the others. But she is part of our collective wisdom, if only we let ourselves remember. She is in the landscape, our soul. It was startling to me, coming to that realisation.

JUDGE: [Pause] One of the allegations levelled against you is that you encouraged Eva to leave her house and wealth to the Islands of Women Foundation—

INGA: We were of course delighted that she did.

JUDGE: —by representing her sons to her in a bad light.

INGA: [Smiles] We didn’t need to do that. They did it for themselves. Of course, they also live in London, a man’s world; the kind of place where it’s difficult to effect the necessary paradigm shift. That’s why we now encourage men, as well as women, to come up here for a time of thinking and retreat, to order an Nth wave, AWC’s iconic whisky sour, made with island whisky, eggs and a coulis of berries, and to learn what it feels like to live in a place where we have redesigned our lives not by and around the lives of men but for everyone, regardless of gender—

Interruption as court officials remove spectators from the public gallery.

Back in the day, when the men came for her, Cwen was ready. It was the price she paid for her isolation. There was only so much Anu could do to protect her.