Every homecoming is defined by the departure that preceded it. In the traditional telling (most famously transcribed in the 19th-century collection Tales of the Salt Marshes by an unknown monk of Lindisfarne), Festus is the eldest son of a shipwright named Marius.

: The protagonist; a sturdy, agile boy with close-cropped dark hair and olive skin. He is characterized by his resilience and desire to be seen as a "full-grown man."

who returns home after a week-long journey to sell cloth, only to find his world irrevocably changed Plot Summary