There have been predictable displays of ritual dancing as the Stormont talks process approaches the point of serious business. The preliminaries are out of the way and later today, at Stormont Castle Buildings, nationalists and unionists of various shades begin the steep climb which will, hopefully, lead to the high ground of an agreed accommodation.
Two traditions with virtually irreconcilable political cultures are setting out to engage with each other. Two bloodlines, representing ancient peoples with centuries of enmity between them, are seeking to forge new arrangements by which they can live in peace within the one stretch of land. It should not be surprising that leaders on both sides should use opportunities over recent days to reiterate historic claims and ambitions.
Mr David Trimble went to the British Labour Party's annual conference and declared his belief that no agreement is likely. Irish republicans' expectations simply cannot be accommodated since the Union is sacrosanct. Almost on cue, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness countered with a declaration at a republican rally in Coalisland that his party's aim is to "smash the Union". Sinn Fein will accept nothing less than a united Ireland, he declared. The message to Mr Tony Blair is that it is "time to end British rule".
Against this background of dogmatism it is difficult to be optimistic for an agreed solution. But at this point none of the participants can afford to be seen to be less than absolute in their convictions. Mr Trimble has to cope with the spectres of the Rev Ian Paisley and Mr Robert McCartney and with mutterings from within his own party. The SDLP and Sinn Fein have to contend with the hardliners of Republican Sinn Fein and the so-called Continuity IRA, as well as the substantial element within the Provisional movement which believes that negotiation is a fatal error and that any compromise constitutes a betrayal.
Strand One of the talks, governing arrangements within Northern Ireland, will be difficult. But a range of solutions is possible. Strand Three, governing relations between Ireland and Britain, is also capable of being addressed in many varying ways. The most hotly contested ground will be Strand Two, which is to deal with relations between North and South.
There will be talk of cross-Border institutions, perhaps of a "Council of Ireland" and examples will be sought and displayed of arrangements between states elsewhere. But the bedrock issue will be represented as sovereignty. Whose writ runs in Northern Ireland? Unionists say they cannot compromise on the issue. Republicans say they cannot accept a solution which is grounded in the status quo. Yet there are shades of possible solutions even in the circumstances that prevail at present. Northern Ireland's sovereignty reposes within the United Kingdom. But the Republic has a unique, consultative role in the governance of Northern Ireland under the provisions of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement.
When unionists say they will never compromise on the Union and when republicans say they will not live within it, they might do well to reflect that the present reality is not what either side claims it to be. The North is unique - suigeneris. And unique arrangements will have to be found to give it lasting peace.