These days Ailsa lives in Sydney, and rides ferries to the city. When she pulls in to Circular Quay, there is the Opera House, and beside it, the Chinese restaurant where she met her new-but-familiar friend. She walks along harbour trails and sandstone cliffs. She is learning to swim! There is a seahorse colony near her home, and the resilience of those creatures, with their skeletons on the outside, inspires her. She is writing again. And speaking, teaching, convening, narrating audiobooks . . .

She is coming home.

Tony has undergone a significant shift in his daily work. From being in charge of two Sydney parishes, he has moved to what is described in the trade as ‘lesser duties’. He likes to call them ‘better duties’. Now free of the demanding administration of a large Catholic community, he lives privately, giving him more space for his preferred pastoral work of being with people as they find meaning in the ups and downs of their life journey—marriages, funerals, counselling—as well as assisting at Sunday Mass in the wider Sydney Church. More time for writing too, and for making sense of his own most fortunate life. Funny thing—less time for golf but more time for cooking.

The conversation between the Shanachie and the Priest hasn’t stopped. Nor has the laughter. Their friendship remains a surprise and support for both of them—even when they are arguing, which they still do. Often! They have not stopped hunting for that elusive Copper to complete their village . . .