Contents

Prologue

In which a letter crosses the sea ahead of its consequences, and the reader is told how the world ends: slowly, and then all in one season.

First Keel

In which the Cormorant comes home a year before the calendar allows, and the price of being first is paid by the youngest aboard.

The Undeclared Sea

The Master’s Daughter

The Homecoming Chest

The Coin Bench

The Keel-Rite

The Gray Hour

The Reading of the Water