Difference between revisions of "Summary:Tress of the Emerald Sea"

* [[Ulba]] (mendionedmentioned only)

[[Aether spores#Verdant|Verdant spores]] slowly begin to flow through the hole and contact the water the cannonball delivered, exploding into a mass of vines. [[Dorp]] comes down to patch the hole with [[Aether spores#Roseite|roseite spores]] then kills any remaining spores with [[silver]]. Tress calls for him to bring her above deck, thinking that the attacking ship must be a royal ship and so would stop firing if they see her dressed as a royal inspector.

; Characters

; Plot Summary

Tress comes to to find Ann laughing at her. The speck that got under her goggles blew them off, but only made her face sore. Ann takes her to Dr. Ulaam, who is a a sharp-dressed, gray-skinned fellow with red eyes. They joke about him buying Tress's eyes. Ann calls Ulaam a zombie, and he explains that he has gotten rid of his heartbeat for efficiency. He gives Tress a salve for her face. Through additional banter, Ann mentions Ulaam eats corpses, and he tells of mimicking their forms. However, his salve works miraculously. When he joined the crew, Crow shot him a few times to no effect. Since he required no pay beyond the occasional useless corpse, they kept him around. Tress returns to her work, and Huck tells her he saw Laggart sneaking around with some cannonballs. She sets to scrubbing near the cannon.

In the morning, Crow gives Tress the key to the sprouter's cabin (Tress notes the captain also has a copy). Crow shows her around the worktable and basin and explains that the room is lined with [[aluminum]] to protect the spores from the silver that protects the crew. Tress is delighted to sleep in the private bunk. Huck wakes her complaining that the ship did acquire a cat. She tells him to stick with her for protection, then gets her cups to arrange in the cabin. She hopes that even if this crew doesn't wind up getting her to Charlie, maybe she can at least gather a ransom with them. As she looks at the butterfly cup, she decides she will have to find some other way to free him besides robbery.

Working on deck, Tress asks Ann about how many seas she has sailed. Ann sailed three, Fort ten: all except the Midnight and the [[Crimson Sea|Crimson]]. Tress is confirming there are twelve spore types and twelve seas, just to make sure she knows what she thinks she knows. She asks why people don't just sail around the Midnight, and Fort explains it's bounded by mountain ranges; the only way to avoid the mountains and the Midnight is to sail through nine other seas. This gives the Sorceress a stranglehold on trade, which is why the king is moving toward war. Between her aluminum box and the barrel, Tress swaps normal cannonballs for the ones Laggart hid. Ann asks Tress if she can have some practice charges, and Tress says of course, as long as the Captain doesn't have a problem with it. Ann crumbles slightly, making Tress curious. After Ann leaves, Tress asks Fort why Ann isn't allowed to fire cannons. Fort requests a trade for the information, and Tress explains more about wanting to reach the Sorceress to save someone. Fort shares that Ann "has worse aim than a drunk man riding a three-legged llama." Fort says some things just aren't meant to be, meaning both Ann's and Tress's dreams. He mentions that even if she can find Charlie, he'll be cursed like Hoid. Then he mentions the captain specifically traded to get Hoid on the ship. Tress finds this curious in combination with the plot to make deadrunners of the crew, though she restrains herself (heroically, in the narrator's opinion) from jumping to conclusions.

Tress asks Dr. Ulaam how Crow was protected by the vines, and if that's why the crew is so afraid of her. He theorizes that as a [[spore eater]], Crow is host to a rogue verdant essence which protects her but should have killed her some time ago. He guesses she only has weeks left based on how much water she drinks. Tress puzzles over how this fits in with the plot to become deadrunners. She then asks Ulaam (contrary to her presumed nature) about [[Midnight Essence]], which Hoid gave to Weev. She tries to ask Hoid about the Sorceress, and then is able to decode that a familiar or talking animal might be able to mediate a discussion of the curse.

The narrator offers an overview of the [[Luhel bond]]. Midnight spores differ from other colors of Lumar's rogue aethers in utilizing a the Luhel bond, which is close to how aethers are supposed to work, symbiotically. It is not like the [[Nahel bond]], which exchanges "consciousness and anchoring to reality;" rather, there is an exchange of physical matter.

Tress feels water leaving her body as the Midnight Essence grows and coalesces into a face which requests more water. Tress agrees, and the Midnight Essence adopts a simulacrum of Huck from her mind. Giving it more water, she controls and then inhabits the Midnight Essence. In Crow's quarters, they read Crow's research about possible cures from the verdant aether spores by something or someone named [[Xisisrefliel|Xisis]]. She uncoversdiscovers that Crow had secret meetings with Weev about locating Xisis, but he turned to blackmail, which is why she killed him. Further reading reveals Xisis to be a dragon living under the Crimson Sea, though reports are apocryphal due to the dangers of the Crimson. The Midnight Essence fights Tress on reading further, and then approaching footsteps coincide with Huck severing the tie to the Midnight Essence. He had acted on Tress' increasing dehydration. She recuperates and plans to meet with the other officers.

Entering the secret meeting, Tress is introduced as a [[King's Mask]] by Salay. Fort and Ann aren't so sure. They point out that if she were a royal agent, they'd be in trouble for being deadrunners. Salay doubles down on her rationale. Tress considers saying she is a Mask to prove she's not but cannot bring herself to extinguish their hopes. She brings out the deadrunner cannonballs and explains how Crow wanted to bind them to her will. Fort suggests persuading Crow to sail a less populated sea, like the Crimson. Tress knows that this is exactly why Crow came up with the deadrunner plot, but she avoids disclosing the depth of her knowledge lest it further confirm their King's Mask theory.

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