The unmistakable sound of ice melting and breaking could be heard in Ballymena yesterday. Big Ian and Big Martin still weren't talking face-to-face, but the body language spoke volumes. The war is over, bar the shouting.
Clearly anticipating a good result, Paisley and McGuinness strode - separately but almost simultaneously - into the election centre, wearing smiles of victory.
The count was taking place in a local leisure-and-fitness complex that was plastered with exhortations to swimmers and basketball players to "Give 111 per cent" and "Get Up, Stay Up". The DUP and Sinn Féin didn't quite get 111 per cent in the North Antrim and Mid-Ulster constituencies, both of which were being counted at Ballymena, but they were ahead of political opponents in their respective heartlands.
Republicans like to sing a song about "the broad black brimmer of the IRA" but this time it was Paisley's turn to wear what is by now his trademark fedora hat. He was accompanied by Ian jnr, who went out of his way to ensure RTÉ's Charlie Bird got to ask a question. Changed times indeed.
The Doc was in even more ebullient form than usual, but was still careful to avoid hard and fast positions on his future plans.
There were "hard negotiations" and "hard talks" ahead with the British government, he intoned cryptically.
What did Sinn Féin have to do to make them fit for government? The Big Man struck an evangelical note: "They need to repent and turn from their evil ways." Did he envisage being first minister with Martin McGuinness as his number two? "Not at the moment," was his cautious reply.
Big Ian went on to say that Martin "needs to be converted". It's not that he has to turn up at the Martyrs' Memorial Church next Sunday singing hymns with the Free Presbyterians - a political conversion will suffice.
Holding forth to the media scrum, the DUP leader said: "You need to go to Martin McGuinness and say, 'Are you declaring for pure democracy?' When he declares for pure democracy, then a deal can be done."
Shortly afterwards, The Irish Times put this question directly to Sinn Féin's chief negotiator. His response was immediate: "I declare for pure democracy. I'm absolutely for it." But, someone asked, would he also repent? "Well, maybe we all need to repent."
He added, in a rare moment of disagreement with Gerry Adams, that he didn't expect a powersharing executive would be "a battle a day" after all.
"I work on the basis that if Ian Paisley goes into government, he is going into government to stay."
A Catalan radio reporter hung on Martin's every word, but the London-based media were thin on the ground. In line with the good-humoured tone of the day, a journalist told McGuinness that Paisley's formula for longevity was "porridge and cider-vinegar and going to bed early".
McGuinness replied: "He and I have a lot in common. I take my porridge every morning, but with honey in it." Close by, a member of McGuinness' security detail was talking into a speaker on his wrist, just like they do in the movies.
Meanwhile, the Mid-Ulster MP had a word of caution for dissidents who might be planning to undermine a powersharing executive, using traditional republican methods. "No one has the right to be involved in violent activities which run the risk and danger of casting us back into the past," he said. "The past is not a place where we want to go."
Interestingly, he said debates were taking place inside the Continuity IRA and Real IRA "which we in Sinn Féin would like to contribute to".