When the maiden arrived at the sea, the sun had vanished below mountains to the west, the waves were breaking gently along a darkening shore, and ragged hulks of cloud were lying becalmed in the deep and starry sky. Far, far out to sea, rising from the waters like the blue bulwark of another land and bridging the vast horizon from west unto the south, stood the giant ship of Airda, the Queen. So high were its masts that their tops could scarce be seen in the dome of the heavens, clouds swept through the royal yards, and the lights within the rigging floated like stars upon the sky.
Three days’ journey long, and close upon a day’s journey wide, was the giant ship. Its sails were the size of towns, and a sailor on horseback carried the captain’s orders to the crew. And there were villages aboard, and wide fields in which men were ploughing, and grazing cattle, and highways, and inns wherein travelers might rest.
Now came the dark, a wind rose upon the sea, the black clouds moved through the stars, and a little boat came to take Fidella to the ship. Once aboard, the maiden was given a pretty cottage with a garden to be her very own.
And, sailing by night and by day, furrowing vast and lonely seas, the giant ship came to the wood beyond the world.
The fountain of memory lay at the foot of the noblest of the trees, and the silvery music of its falling water was the only sound to be heard in all the wood. A hooded figure of worn and ancient stone, standing with head bowed low, held aloft the jar from which it flowed, an endless crystal stream.
And Fidella, stooping to fill her cup in the basin of stone below, saw mirrored in the water there, gathering and dissolving one into the other, memories of all the years of her life which had been.
Once more through the lonely seas sailed the giant ship of Airda the Queen, Fidella again beheld the land, and presently she fared over hill and dale to the Kingdom of the Fields.
The winter was over and gone, and all the towns and villages of the realm were decked with bannerets and wreaths of early flowers, for in three days’ time the Lord Alois was to wed the Princess Melusine.
Presently Fidella, journeying through the land, arrived on the crest of a hill overlooking the royal city and, pausing there a while, took counsel with herself as to how she might best make her way to Alois and offer him the cup of memory.