Jannit cleared her throat and began. "As you know, Nicko has been gone for six months now and as far as I understand, no one knows where he is or when - indeed, if - he is ever coming back. In fact - and I am very sorry to say this - I have heard that he will never return."
Sarah caught her breath. No one had dared to say this to her face before.
"I am very sorry to have to come here like this, Madam Heap, but - "
"Oh, it's Sarah. Please, just call me Sarah."
"Sarah. Sarah, I am sorry, but we cannot struggle on without Nicko any longer. The summer season is looming, when even more foolhardy idiots will be putting to sea to try and catch a few herring. They'll all be wanting their boats ready, plus the fact that the Port barge is in for repair again after this month's storms - well, we are facing our busiest time. I'm so sorry, but while Nicko is still apprenticed to me, according to the Boatbuilders Association training regulations - which are an absolute minefield, but I do have to abide by them - I cannot engage anyone else. I urgently need a new apprentice, especially as Rupert Gringe is nearing the end of his Articles soon."
Sarah Heap clasped her hands together tightly, and Jannit noticed that her fingernails were bitten down to the quick. Sarah was trembling and did not speak for some seconds. Then, just as Jannit thought she would have to break the silence, Sarah said, "He will come back. I don't believe they went back in Time - no one can do that. Jenna and Septimus just thought they did. It was some wicked, wicked spell. I keep asking Marcia to figure it out. She could Find Nicko, I know she could, but she's done nothing. Nothing. It's all a complete nightmare!" Sarah's voice rose in despair.
"I'm so sorry," Jannit murmured. "I really am."
Sarah took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "It's not your fault, Jannit. You were very good to Nicko. He loved working for you. But of course you must find another apprentice, although I would ask you one thing."
"Of course," replied Jannit.
"When Nicko returns, will you renew his apprenticeship?"
"I would be delighted to." Jannit smiled, pleased that Sarah had asked for something she could readily agree to. "Even if I have a new apprentice, Nicko would step straight into Rupert's shoes and become my senior apprentice - or journeyman as we call it down at the yard."
Sarah smiled wistfully. "That would be wonderful," she said.
"And now" - this was the part Jannit had been dreading - "I am afraid I must trouble you to sign the Release." Jannit stood up to pull a roll of parchment from her coat pocket, and the pile of towels, suddenly losing their support, fell down and took her place.
Jannit cleared a space on the table and unrolled the long piece of parchment that formed Nicko's apprentice Indentures. She secured it top and bottom with whatever came to hand - a well-thumbed novel called Love on the High Seas and a large bag of biscuits.
"Oh." Sarah caught her breath at the sight of Nicko's spidery signature - along with her own and Jannit's - at the foot of the parchment.
Hastily, Jannit placed the Release - a small slip of parchment - over the signatures and said, "Sarah, as one of the parties who signed the Indentures, I have to ask you to sign the Release. I have a pen if you...if you can't find one."
Sarah couldn't find one. She took the pen and ink bottle that Jannit had taken from her other coat pocket, dipped the pen in the ink and - feeling as though she was signing Nicko's life away - she signed the parchment. A tear dripped onto the ink and smudged it; both Jannit and Sarah pretended not to notice.
Jannit signed her own signature next to Sarah's; then she took a needle threaded with thick sail cotton from her bottomless coat pocket and sewed the Release over the original signatures.
Nicko Heap was no longer apprenticed to Jannit Maarten.
Jannit snatched up the hat balanced behind her and fled. It was only when she reached her boat that she realized she had taken Sarah's gardening hat, but she stuffed it on her head regardless and rowed slowly back to her boatyard.