“And you say you are all right with this, this risk to your child?” Sokrates asked.

“She can’t be!” Thetis said, barely able to speak through her sobs.

“I’m not all right, but it’s necessary. It’s what Jason said, the risk is the same. If she ceases to exist because Jathery doesn’t go back to conceive her, or she ceases to exist because the whole city, or all of history does, there’s no difference. And I have stayed as close to Jathery as I can since finding this out. It’s why I went with gla,” Marsilia said. Her face was set and brave. “I also love Alkippe very much—and I agree it’s terrible.”

Sokrates patted her shoulder. “What a hard choice,” he said. “But if Jathery doesn’t go to rescue Athene—”

“Then Alkippe may be safe from Necessity, but Zeus may bring down the Darkness of the Oak on all of us, Alkippe included,” Marsilia said.

“Arete?” Pytheas asked, over the sound of Thetis’s sobbing. “Please?”

Arete’s eyes widened. “All right, I’ll translate it. The shield of Necessity may be enough. Well, I will if Hilfa agrees.”

“Hilfa?” I asked, surprised into speaking.

“Hilfa is the anchor. He always was. He’s Athene’s anchor right now.”

Hilfa kept his arms around Thetis. As he looked up I caught a flash of vivid orange and blue from his eyelids. “Like a boat anchor? What does it mean, for a person to be an anchor?”

“It means you’re her connection back to this universe,” Arete said. “If Pytheas and Jathery go out there, they’ll need to follow the thread from you to her.”

“You’re not only her message, but her anchor,” Jathery said.

Hilfa was staring at Arete over Thee’s head. “Tell me what I am?”

“You’re a hero, and what you make of yourself is your own choice. Like all Saeli, you have five parents. Jathery, a male human, the earth and water of Plato, and the spark of Athene’s mind,” Arete said.

Ikaros made an uneasy motion, but did not speak. He took a step forward, then stopped.

“So I belong to this planet? To Plato?” Hilfa asked, staring at Arete with the glint I thought was his real smile on his face.

“Yes,” Arete said. “And you don’t object to being the anchor?”

“It is what I was made for, how could I mind?” Hilfa asked. He let go of Thetis and stood up. Thee was getting herself under control. I sat down again and put my arm tentatively around her. She leaned into me as she had been doing with Hilfa.

“Let’s do it and have done,” Pytheas said.

“And if you don’t come back?” Arete asked. “Should I send—”

“That will be up to you,” Pytheas said.