The pirate crew was permitted to return to the deck, and Gideon reported that Richard had been safely restrained in the ship's prison. Emily took up residence in the captain's cabin, and two more cabins were cleared for Aria and Talyndra, though Aria insisted she didn't need one, not needing food or sleep. A course was set for the port nearest to Lirethel, and Emily and her companions retired for the night.

Before they parted, Talyndra handed Emily Richard's bronze armband. "You won this," she said. "I just retrieved it for you."

The armband was heavier than it looked, with a lot of finely carved detail. After examining it for some time, Emily placed it beside the bed in her new cabin. She thought about placing it on her arm, though it appeared far too big to stay on.

The small table Emily placed the armband on was also adorned with Zephyr's book. Though Emily's body was exhausted, her mind was full of thoughts and questions, buzzing with plans and possibilities that her victory in the duel had brought to her. After disrobing—for there were no nightgowns to be found in Richard's cabin—she slipped under the bedcovers and started, at last, to read Zephyr's book. The Stoneshell had saved her so many times, but still, she knew so little about it.

The book started with the Stoneshell's origins, which Emily already knew the outline of, but filled in a lot more detail. Thurseus Irontail had first laid eyes upon Evangeline as she roamed a beach collecting seashells. She was so focused on her task that she didn't even notice Thurseus until their hands touched reaching for the same shell—this would become the model for the Stoneshell pendant.

The pendant was made of cooled and hardened lava from a flow beneath the deepest trench in the ocean. Irontail, who was greater still as a mage than as a warrior, imbued it with complex enchantments, carved as runes into onion-like layers beneath its plain surface. Through a process derived from careful study of mermaid alkayi magic, he bonded it to Evangeline. This ensured that she could use its powers without harm to herself and would also be able to summon it from great distances.

Zephyr's margin notes indicated that she did not know whether Irontail ever intended for the Stoneshell to be used by anyone other than Evangeline, or that he knew of its fire powers. In any case, these only manifested on land.

The powers Irontail intentionally imbued the Stoneshell with were largely protective. It was given the ability to calm and reassure its wearer and to protect her from extreme environmental conditions—heat, cold, strong winds, and rough seas. It granted the ability to breathe underwater, as Emily well knew. And it had some healing properties, though Zephyr admitted not much was known about these. Reading this, Emily noticed that her bruises felt less painful, and some of the cuts on her skin had already closed.

The next section of the book covered what Zephyr termed the "unlocking" of the Stoneshell. Upon the consummation of Thurseus and Evangeline's marriage, the Stoneshell's powers would extend to him, and be greatly increased in strength. Just as it allowed Evangeline to breathe underwater, it would allow him to walk on land. Thurseus had said once that it would remove both their weaknesses, making them one and whole in each other.

By the time of the Stoneshell's creation, Thurseus had already united the merfolk of Thessolan under a single empire, but he had still greater ambitions that were to be fulfilled with Evangeline by his side. Together, they were to rule a vast kingdom that spanned both land and sea.

This never came to pass, as Thurseus was murdered the day before the wedding, in the culmination of a plot by an alliance of former nobles who remained loyal to the heir of one of the old kings that Thurseus had vanquished. The united Mer empire fell to infighting and split apart shortly afterward, mostly along the lines of the old kingdoms.

The next section of the book covered Evangline's life after the death of Thurseus. Her heart broken, she roamed the sea and the land seeking vengeance on the ones who had killed her one true love, and on anyone else who, in her estimation, allowed jealousy and personal greed to drive them to sabotage men and women with noble intents and great visions. The Stoneshell's power made her a formidable and highly feared figure, but the grief of losing Thurseus ultimately undid her sanity. Towards the end of her life, she appeared to choose enemies without rhyme or reason, imposing extreme and disproportionate punishment on random individuals for minor slights.

Evangeline developed many magical powers in addition to the Stoneshell's fire and protective wards, but the mystery shrouding her later life made it unclear whether these were related to the Stoneshell's powers or independent of it.

By the end of this section, Emily's eyes had become heavy with sleep. She closed the book and placed it down on the table—right next to Richard's bronze armband.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Emily picked up the armband. Sitting up in bed, she examined its intricate patterns closely, which blended naturalistic, apparently snow-capped mountains with simple geometric shapes. It felt heavy and solid, but also slightly warm. Before she knew it, Emily had slipped it over her left arm, just to feel what it was like.

At once, the bronze band contracted to fit snugly around her upper arm, producing a gasp from Emily. The weight of it seemed to disappear, or rather, spread through her entire body, making her feel solid and grounded. Stone of the earth was now hers to command.

"You don't waste any time, do you?" said a bitter voice from the doorway.

Emily shrieked and pulled the blanket up to cover her chest.

"Come now, it's nothing I haven't seen before." The voice belonged to Richard, who stepped forward into the dim lamplight. He was still naked and made no effort to hide it.

Emily clutched the blanket in one hand and summoned a fireball in another. "How did you escape?"

"If you'll recall, there was a hole in the door."

Emily cursed her new crew.

"They may be your crew now, bound by your orders, but some retain a certain sympathy for me."

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now," Emily said, surprising herself at the viciousness of her words.

Richard held up his stumps in a gesture of surrender. "That would hardly be sporting, now would it? Emily Stoneshell Bearer, master of fire and newly of stone, wielding her enormous and lethal powers against a poor, naked cripple."

"We're both naked!"

"I noticed. And I had hoped it would be under more genial conditions."

Emily remembered the hate in Richard's eyes when he had pressed the marble of Aria's gown into her sides. "You tried to kill me!"

"My temper got the better of me," Richard admitted. "I'm not accustomed to losing."

Emily was getting rather annoyed with his smug tone, not to mention his intrusion on her privacy. Grasping the blanket closer to her chest, she asked, "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"I wanted to offer you a last chance," Richard said, dropping his arms. "You've read the book by now. You know that I can help you to unlock the Stoneshell's full power. Between that and the powers of the Bronzeband, you could be the world's greatest sorceress. Greater even than Evangeline herself."

Emily was speechless for a moment. Of all the ways that men had tried to get into her pants, this was surely the most creative. "I don't think so. Turn around while I get dressed, and I'm marching you right back to your cell. And this time, I'll find a big stone to put in front of the door so you can't get out again."

Richard dutifully turned around but continued speaking. "As I said before, some of the crew retain my loyalty. And I won't tell you which ones. With me on this ship, you will never know who you can trust."

Emily paused. He had a point.

"But I can solve that problem for you. If you refuse to let me help you fulfill your destiny, at least allow me to leave this ship. Give me the Bronzeband and rowboat, and I will depart at once."

"You've shown that I can't trust you with such power." Emily again recalled the marble pressing down on her ribs.

Richard turned to face her and held his stumps up to the light. "Then how am I to row?"

A sudden sympathy seized Emily, looking at Richard's pathetic figure. "Come here," she said, steeling herself as Richard stepped towards her.

Allowing the blanket to drop to her hips, she reached out and took Richard's stumps in her hands. She rubbed them, making gentle, circular motions and channeling the Stoneshell's healing power. A soft, heatless green flame appeared beneath her palms, and Richard's stumps started to grow.

Richard's eyes grew wider and wider as he watched flesh and bone extend from the ends of his arms, shaping under the power of Emily and the Stoneshell's restorative magic. Slowly, carefully, she drew out two perfectly proportioned hands, bright pink and hairless.

When she was done, Richard marveled at his new hands. Tentatively at first, but with rapidly increasing confidence, he moved his fingers and thumbs and swiveled his wrists, experiencing for the first time sensations that most people take entirely for granted.

"I think that... should allow you to row," said Emily, sweating, panting and now truly, finally exhausted.

Eyes welling with tears, Richard placed his new palms together in a praying posture and bowed deeply to Emily. "I... will not forget this great kindness, Emily Stoneshell Bearer. Truly, you are magnanimous in victory, and I am satisfied to hold to my word and call this your victory. You have given me a great and precious gift, something I have longed for all my life."

Richard took a few steps towards the door, picking up his violin on the way out. But before leaving, he turned his head to look back at Emily and said, "But do not think you have seen the last of me. The Bronzeband is mine, surely as the Stoneshell is yours, and I will be back for it. So long, Emily... for the moment."

The cabin door shut behind Richard's hairy form. Sometime later, Emily heard a distant splash. Before going to sleep, she got up and locked the door to prevent further disruptions to her reading. But she was asleep before she could read even a single word further.