Summary

In Chapter 41, "The Moirai", we meet the Moirai: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. Clotho spins the thread, Lachesis chooses how long it will be, and Atropos cuts it. Except this is no ordinary thread, but the thread of life. And these goddesses regulate human lifespans. They work imperfectly, with lives sometimes cut off too short or left to linger on earth too long. Lachesis can misjudge the time to cut the thread, and Atropos can strike too low or high with her blade. Clotho prefers it when her sisters make mistakes, for that generally results in the latter. However, if the thread fails to form in her hands "it could only mean a grieving mother, standing over a cradle, howling at the unhearing sky" (325).

In Chapter 42, "Andromache", we follow Andromache’s story again. She has been taken to Epirus, the home of her new...