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know about these plates, Elsephela,” said Saoirse. “Should I warn my clutch not to use them?”
    “It’s no use,” said the Elsephela. “Oshun has deposited these plates in too many places. Soon each Hetaera will pick them up and use them, or perhaps threaten to do so. And the Hetaerae are the primary source of income in Elysia.
    “We have a year here at most before that money runs dry, all because your goddess Oshun decided to free you. What will you do, Saoirse?”
    Saoirse had never considered that notion. To do? She’d done as she was told all her life. Perhaps someone else would come in and tell her what to do; someone always did.
    “And what am I to do, child?” asked the old woman, her anger rising again. “Like Aspesia, I have houses, land, but they aren’t mine. They belong to the island and are lent to me as pension for my youth, for a single decade earning them extraordinarily high profits.”
    Saoirse didn’t answer, thinking the question rhetorical, but the old woman pressed on.
    “What am I to do, Saoirse? Your prayers have ended my existence here, so now you must answer me. When this island crumbles, what am I to do, and where am I to go?”
    All the years of rhetoric, poetry and training failed Saoirse now. There was no place for this old, foul-smelling woman to go. If Elysia vanished, the Elsephela could re-enter the conurbation as a low-paid prostitute, or perhaps a beggar. She could also die , thought Saoirse, but she kept her thoughts to herself. 
    “All I need is a little money to live out the rest of my days, Saoirse, and I think that you owe me this, wouldn’t you say so? Don’t give me coyness or passive diversion; answer me yes or no . After destroying my only means of support, do you believe that you owe me a way to spend the rest of my days without penury?”
    “Yes,” said Saoirse, more out of reflex than meaning.
    “Good,” said the Elsephela, “then I have found your Danna. He will come to take you away tonight.”
    Saoirse’s heart skipped a beat yet again, and then sank. This was both her destiny and the day that she dreaded, and it was coming tonight! There was no time to prepare and no time to say good-bye. And the one thing she always kept at the back of her mind was now gone: there was no time to run away.
    “I don’t think Emetor Kain will approve of—”
    “Emetor Kain won’t know of this. I’ve already received the initial payment and will receive the rest of it upon your arrival outside this island.”
    “Arrival? Where?”
    “I don’t know. But this is the way it will be done.”
    Saoirse started to cry, and unlike any other time in her life, she couldn’t stop. The striped hyaena came up close and rubbed his head against her leg until the Elsephela shooed him away. The old woman got up close to Saoirse, and her stench was so overpowering that Saoirse’s nose began to bleed again.
    “You’d better stop crying, child,” said the Elsephela, “for if your Danna rejects you, there will be consequences. I have another man who is willing to pay for your services, not as much as the Danna, but he will pay enough to sustain me for a few years. He owns the Mines of Capua and he will use you as he sees fit. I believe only prisoners work those mines, isn’t that true? Would you like to go to the Mines of Capua?”
    “No, Elsephela,” said Saoirse.
    “Then get yourself together for your Danna, and smile,” said the old woman, “because this will be the happiest night of your life.”
    /***/
    Saoirse was in her room alone without a clue what to do. Could she escape? She would surely be caught. What if her Danna was “ unsightly, malodorous or simply unlovable, ” like the Emetor warned? What if he was cruel?
    And why was he taking her away? Only on the rarest occasions would Danna take their Hetaera away, and that was after a decade of courtship. Something feels wrong , thought Saoirse, and not just with me. This night feels different; it feels like