About an hour and a half later, Zhaan and Hektor stand in the shallows of the lake in the fading light. Hektor's submerged up to his waist, Zhaan barely to the hips. She wears her silver Pa'u's stole over a cassock that she doesn't mind getting wet. Both of their sandals have been left on the bank.

Zhaan's got the silver bowl in one hand and the knife in the other. In the bowl is Hektor's prayer boat. "Merciful goddess," Zhaan intones, "one comes before you seeking forgiveness. Hektor, son of Hekabe and Priam, asks that you cleanse his soul."