Amata sacrifices her happy memories to cross the stream

Amata sacrifices her happy memories to cross the stream, turning the Fountain of Fair Fortune’s final barrier into a test of what each traveler is willing to surrender. By giving up the memories of her vanished lover, she opens a way for all four companions to reach the hilltop.

The Stream’s Demand

Just short of the Fountain, the travelers encounter a stream circling the hilltop. A smooth stone lies in its clear depths, bearing the demand, “Pay me the treasure of your past.” The water bars the path even as the Fountain glitters within reach, making passage depend not on strength but on surrender.

Sir Luckless first tries to float across on his shield, but it sinks. The three witches pull him from the water, then attempt to leap the brook themselves; it will not let them cross. As the sun sinks lower, their failure turns the inscription from an obstacle into a riddle they must understand.

Amata’s Sacrifice

Amata is the first to grasp what the stone requires. Taking her wand, she draws from her mind the happy memories of the time she spent with her vanished lover and drops them into the rushing water. The stream carries those memories away; in their place, stepping stones appear.

The sacrifice is specific: Amata does not offer an object or a promise, but the remembered happiness of a lost love. Her past becomes the means of passage, and the cost falls on her even though the new crossing serves every traveler. The three witches and Sir Luckless can at last cross together and continue to the summit.

Passage and Consequence

The crossing brings the companions to the Fountain, set among rare herbs and flowers as the sky burns ruby. Yet arrival does not resolve their quest. Before they can decide who will bathe, frail Asha collapses, exhausted by the struggle up the hill and close to death.

Amata’s act therefore removes the final physical barrier but does not secure anyone’s wish or end the travelers’ trials. It also establishes a pattern of personal sacrifice in the approach to the Fountain: the way forward opens when someone gives up something precious, while the reward itself remains undecided.