Malta is getting prepared for the Summer Ball with Keffria, Ronica, and Rache sewing her a dress. They speak on the Rain Wild and Bingtown reluctance to stand up for the Vestrit cause. Malta is quietly losing her foundation of and the belief in the strength and power of men, determined to gain power and make change for herself. Meanwhile, Althea is ruminating on her situation onboard Paragon and others' opinions of him. She is trying to settle into her new role with Brashen as Captain and getting used to working with the new crew. 

The Paragon is now ready to be launched after a lot of hard work under less than ideal conditions. Brashen, Althea, and Amber have worked hard and are trying to ensure Paragon's goodwill and cooperation for the future. We discuss the growing and mending relationship between Althea and Brashen, as well as Paragon's return to feeling like a ship. 

Maulkin's Tangle have gathered more serpents and are slowly trying to awaken more to their true memories. They decide to try to awaken a liveship to it's memories, as well, to figure out their purpose and destination. The serpents encounter The Ringsgold and drag him down and get a breakthrough. 

Content Warning: Talk of Sexual Assault and Rape. Please take care of yourself and feel free to skip.

Vivacia gives in to her blood lust chasing a slaveship. She proves herself worthy of Kennit and sparks jealousy in both Etta and Wintrow. Althea visits Grag as we learn and discuss the worsening political events in Bingtown. Althea finally confronts her own feelings and lets Grag go after his second proposal. 

Brashen, Amber, and Althea are hard at work to scrounge up laborers to fix up Paragon. The deadline is moving closer and the ship is definitely working against them to scare everyone away. Brashen and Althea finally have an argument as tensions rise that may result in some introspection. Finally, Malta has fallen into hopelessness and seems to be weakening to a certain dragon's requests. 

We explore viewpoints on the Vivacia regarding Kennit's manipulations, the ship's first taste of piracy, Wintrow's reticence for action, and Etta's love for the pirate. Meanwhile, Althea, Brashen, and Amber have to prepare Paragon for the news that he has been sold by his family. 

With Althea home, Brashen and Amber lay out their plan to save Vivacia. Keffria, Ronica, and Althea are very skeptical of the plan to purchase Paragon, but Malta stays even-keeled. The family discusses their plans and the potential pitfalls, but ultimately agree that it's the best course of action they have. 

Althea Vestrit drives Davad back safely to his estate. She confronts his serving staff for lazyness and Davad himself with his mindset of profit over morals. She ultimately leaves with a former slave boy that Davad agrees to free. 

Althea Vestrit gets ready for the Trader meeting, hoping to plead her family's case about rescuing Vivacia from Kennit and the pirates. However, the Bingtown Traders are fairly divided on current political topics, and there is a lot of discussion about personal versus city problems. Althea leaves defeated and finds vandalism at Davad Restart's carriage.