Chapter 3f (Winter 1230): Reuniting Halia with Her Children

That was probably it, yes - Viola was a bit busy keeping an eye on Chryse, Halia and the creek fae, whilst trying to pick her way through a rubblestrewn barley field in pouring rain, and as a result didn't pay quite as much attention to her as she possibly could have done - she just realised later that she hadn't been there all the time.

But she's here now, and really, how much trouble could she have caused in ~5 minutes?

Halia stares at Pely for a long moment. "Oh, my son. I'm sorry. You came to find me, to comfort me, and look what I did to you." She gives the statue a (slightly awkward) embrace, weeping as she does so - then she straightens up.

"What my curse did to you. Poseidon's curse. But no longer. For now I break this curse, as I break this snake!"

She takes the head of the single serpent still dangling from her brow, and smashes it against the head of the statue. There's a pause for a moment - and then Viola sees the stone transform into flesh, rippling out from the blood and brains of the snake. A few moments later, the youth stands depetrifyed, blinking for a moment before embracing his mother.