44

They looked out at the sisters' harvest. Mr Armitage’s way of preserving the memory of the three sisters. Ella and Conor realised then just how ravenous they both were. They piled their plates high: bean casseroles, corn cakes, great slices of pumpkin pie. There are many ways to prepare these three sisters, Mr Armitage always did as he recounted their legend, and here their host had prepared all the same dishes. Conor began, hounding down his food, reaching immediately for seconds as soon as a mouthful from his plate created new space that could be taken up.

Ella coughed. Conor noticed he was being rude, and tried to eat the present mouthful quietly. He had that horrible feeling when you move from eating too quickly and loudly to trying mid-mouthful not to appear piggy. Too late. It was a long time before that mouthful was swallowed, everything had turned to mush, and he’d achieved his aim of eating quietly as he slurped the last of it down.

Conor realised that Ella’s twisted mission had support even in his deep. The three sisters were here, manifest as he'd known them up top, a meal. He saw here that their journeys were indeed bound together. Even as the man sat without eating, he noticed also that this was the same man without eyelids as he who had called for sacrifice from Ella’s deep. Yet here he asked for nothing, but instead sat feeding them.

The legend Mr Armitage had shared with them had been about how the sisters loved and needed one another, how they had provided stability, nourishment and protection to one another. But he’d told them how, in the tale, they had ended up at a table. With a boy, coming first, wooing the eldest sister, taking her home to his family, before returning for the second sister, who fell in love with him too, and finally the third sister. Each of them going willingly out of love for the boy.

He watched as Ella ate, delicately cutting into some roasted pumpkin before lifting it to her mouth. He remembered her, the knife pressing against his eye, threatening to permanently heal his voluntary blindness. He saw it all then, and promised him something that hurts. As soon as he spoke it, the man took them up.

“I offer you Ella.”