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The women in the village stay in their cottages while the men brave the stormy weather outside, working with their boats and discussing the day that Water Claire was found. The stories about her arrival differ, from the children, who believe she was carried in by dolphins, to the others, who believe Tall Andras saved and claimed her. The reality is that Old Benedikt saw her floating in the sea and carried her in. Old Benedikt resuscitates Claire so that she throws up sea water while Tall Andras watches, wanting Claire as his own. The men form a procession to carry Claire to Alys:

Now and then one stopped, turned, and looked out toward the sea and the horizon with its darkening sky as if searching for the silhouette of a vessel that might have thrown this astonishing gift their way. But there was nothing there but what had always been there: empty ocean the color of pewter, tarnishing to black now as night fell (135).

The village sits between the sea and a cliff; new people rarely come to the village but sometimes people leave by climbing the cliff, like