The deserted bay was pristine. White sand led to the ocean, clear blue-green in the bright wintry sunlight. Shaped like a perfect crescent, the beach was surrounded by rocky outcrops. Ruby turned toward the water, the wind coming straight off the sea and flattening her hair to her head, whistling past her ears. Right in front of them, about a hundred meters out, was a large rock, its edges washed by hundreds of tiny waves.

With Leonie still secured in the sling, Ruby took out the violin and began to play. First she played the folk song, Chuir iad mise dh’eilean leam fhìn. When she got to the chorus, she played the part Sam had taught her, that he learned as “The Song of the Seals.” In that moment, she could see how the song could be sung both ways. She felt as if she’d been sent to an island, but it wasn’t in exile. She’d come here for a reason. And as she played, a seal lifted its head, appearing as if out of nowhere on the rock in the bay. Of course, it had been there all along, just camouflaged and sitting very still. She smiled, imagined it thinking, Who’s that playing our song?

Leonie started to sing along. The song transported Ruby to the folk bar where she’d first heard it, and from there to the dark interior of the flat on the New Park that she hoped never to see again. Playing it here washed all of that away. She knew from now on that the song would forever make her think of this beach, this perfect morning.

The wind should have whisked the notes from them, but the music seemed to echo in the bay. When she finished, the wind dropped and she felt the sun on her face. She put the instrument under her chin again and played “The Seal Woman’s Joy.” All of the tension she’d been holding in her body drained away. Leonie relaxed against her, singing softly the words, Ionn da, ionn do …

The final note quietly faded away. For a while she could hear only the wind, the sea, and the birds. Something screamed, then, and she jumped.

“What that, Bee?” said Leonie, wriggling in the wrappings that bound her to Ruby’s back.

“It’s a seal, honey. Can you see it?”

Once she’d seen one, her eyes adjusted, and she perceived three large gray seals, all of them watching Ruby and Leonie on the beach. One opened its mouth and made the noise again, but this time it didn’t sound like a scream; more like a yelp, or a cry of recognition; perhaps even of joy. The seal heaved itself off the rock into the water, where only its head could be seen above the waves for a moment before it disappeared.