Star Of The Sea

(i) Tacitus does not say what became of the sibyl Veleda after she had helped to arrange an armistice. Floris would like to find out and mentions Latin-inscribed altar stones and votive blocks preserved in museums in Leiden and Middleburg on Walcheren. (Time Patrol, p. 490) Although she mentions this clue only to dismiss it for the time being, when she refers to Walcheren again on p. 634, both Everard and the reader vaguely remember her earlier remark.

(ii) Veleda tells her companion, "'Time is on our heels.'" (p. 535) Little does she know. Not only time but also the Time Patrol are on her heels.

(iii) When Everard and Floris follow Veleda's trail through 60 AD, a local tells them:

"'I think that this Nerha goddess of hers is of the Wanes, not the Anses... unless it's another name for Mother Fricka. And yet... they say Nerha is as terrible in her rage as Tiw himself... There's something about a star and the sea, but I know nothing of that, we're inlanders here...'" (pp. 551-552)

Something about a star and the sea!

(iv) A Patrol ethnographer tells Everard and Floris that Veleda is making her goddess, here called Naerdha:

"'...into a being at least as powerful, as ...cosmic...as any.'" (p. 567)

Naerdha is assuming the roles of Wotan, Tiwaz, Thonar and Hecate. Could she become a mother of gods?

(v) In the mythology, a hunter becomes rich because of an encounter with the goddess Nehalennia and her hound. He buys a ship and trades with Britain.

The theological development approaches a climax.