The next 11 days will see intense debate and argument, among both unionists and republicans, as they decide whether to accept or reject the Hillsborough proposals.
As everybody knows, that's a long time in politics. The sunny climate of today could be gale-force conditions by the time the Ulster Unionist Council meets on Saturday week. Equally, there could be stormy conditions in places such as south Armagh.
Nonetheless the current prevailing mood is that Hillsborough Mark II is as good as it gets, and as good as a done deal. For the moment the wind is fair.
The large attendance at the republican hunger-strike commemoration in west Belfast on Sunday, and the enthusiastic reception accorded Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, indicated that they should win the argument favouring the deal.
The response from the anti-agreement republican bloc to the dramatic weekend developments bordered on the mute, although Mr Ruairi O Bradaigh, president of Republican Sinn Fein, complained of a "Provo surrender of arms" by June next year.
"There is neither stability nor a permanent peace in such proposals," he said. Such statements will be brushed off by Mr Adams and the IRA leaders who wrote Saturday's statement.
Republicans admit, however, that there are mutterings in hardline areas such as south Armagh, Derry, Tyrone and south of the Border. But they're addressing those difficulties. Gerry Adams is travelling to Cork and Kerry at the weekend, Martin McGuinness is meeting members around the North, Mitchel McLaughlin is flying to the US today to reassure that important and generous republican constituency.
There is also the question of whether dissident republican paramilitaries would try to scupper the current political opportunity with a so-called "spectacular" action or atrocity.
Generally, though, the Provisional republican leadership seems to be in control. Mr McGuinness and Mr Adams appeared quite relaxed as they licked their ice-cream cones at the rally on Sunday. "It's all about management," one leading Sinn Fein strategist said yesterday. And Sinn Fein has written the book on management.
For Ulster Unionists it's a more problematic business. Steady as it goes is the strategy for the moment. Senior party figures counsel strongly against nonchalant optimism. Yesterday David Trimble repeated in the House of Commons that he has not yet made up his mind on the Hillsborough proposals.
He used the dread word "clarification". He wants answers before he can unconditionally endorse the deal. In short, he wants to know that IRA arms being "verifiably beyond use" means verifiably beyond use. He is also conscious that he must appeal to the emotional heart of the Ulster Unionist Council. Guarantees that the British Union flag will continue to fly over government buildings on designated days and some symbolic concession on policing would also strengthen his bargaining position.
Here be dragons. Senior Sinn Fein figures such as Mitchel McLaughlin, Martin McGuinness and Bairbre de Brun have been warning that any tampering with Patten could wreck this great project. A senior Sinn Fein spokesman bluntly stated, "Patten has the ability to unravel all of this".
The meeting on Saturday week of the UUP's 860-member ruling council to decide whether to adopt the Hillsborough blueprint comes two days before the institutions are due to be reinstated. Mr Ken Maginnis, a key Trimble ally, said a resolution of the political impasse had been achieved. "If people seek to honour what was discussed and agreed then I see no reason why the technical and practical details can't be worked out," he said.
But the unionist call for clarification will cause alarm bells among republicans. They claim that the incessant demand for clarification of aspects of the first IRA ceasefire effectively destroyed that cessation.
Another Trimble lieutenant, Sir Reg Empey, said while the UUP wanted assurances and greater detail about the IRA statement, it would "not be at all niggardly in its response". Sensitivity and perhaps some "creative ambiguity" may be required here.
The usual fault lines within the UUP were exposed by the Hillsborough breakthrough. The anti-agreement UUP MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, said there was nothing in the IRA statement that "indicated that they are going to disarm their illegal weaponry", while the former UUP minister, Mr Sam Foster, a Yes Assembly member, said he believed that the IRA war was over.
The No grouping within the UUP for the moment appears at sixes and sevens. The strength of the IRA statement surprised them. But as the Ulster Unionist Council meeting draws closer they will marshal their forces.
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said anti-agreement unionists would campaign vigorously against the deal; but significantly, he too appeared to concede that Mr Trimble would carry his ruling council. He expected the result would be along the lines of the council vote last March, when with 57 per cent of the poll Mr Trimble defeated the anti-agreement Rev Martin Smyth for the party leadership.
John Taylor broadly agreed. Known as Mr Per Centage in the UUP, Mr Taylor said early on Friday that the chances of a deal were "4 per cent". Yesterday his view was that it was a "90 per cent" certainty that the Ulster Unionist Council would vote to resurrect the political institutions on Saturday week. Although - like Sinn Fein, but coming from a different perspective - he too warned that Patten still had wrecking potential.