Several times, she spoke to the invisible voice, and each time, it ignored her.

  Amu returned and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

  "Any success?" he asked. There was no residual anger in his tone. He spoke to her with the tone a mother would use when she turned from an argument with her husband and addressed the child she loved: exhausted, protective, affectionate.

  Eluvie shrugged off the touch like it was something hot.

  He often used that tone, she realized. In the past, it had been easy to overlook, to dismiss as guilt. But Mirab was right. There was something odd about his behavior. He had not told Mirab of Eluvie's memories. He tried to save her even after she had threatened him. He had been far more accommodating to her than was safe for an enemy. If he was not a spy or a woefully misguided suitor, then she could not say what he was.

  "Hurry, please," he said. "I would really regret dying here."

  Eluvie decided to put him out of her mind for the moment.

  Speaking to the voice was not working. What else could she try?

  She reached into her memories of her attempted escape. Then, she had not been attempting to communicate with anything. Was it possible for her to simply control the water with her mind?

  She decided that it was worth the attempt.

  The initial effort made her dizzy, but she held on. With her eyes closed and her teeth ground together, she imagined herself pushing at the water, forcing the waves into calmness.

  What are you doing?

  Eluvie could not say how she kept her calm. Perhaps she had simply grown accustomed to invisible sounds.

  She ensured that her outward behavior had not changed and silently replied to the voice.

  I don't know what you mean, she said. Who are you?

  A flood of rage washed over her. At the same time, the crashing of waves stopped. A calm came over the water, so complete that even the slightest gust of wind would have been alarmingly loud.

  I said, "What do you think you are doing? How dare you try to control me?"

  "You stopped it," Amu said. "That's impressive."

  Eluvie barely heard him. The emotions coming from the voice told her that she was in more danger than before.

  "I don't think I'm powerful enough to do that," she said. "I was only hoping to get your attention."

  There was an extremely long pause. It seemed to go on for a full minute, though perhaps her fear distorted the time. She did not move while she waited. She knew that it was not gone.

  And now that you have my attention, it sounded mocking, what do you intend to do?

  I had hoped that you would stop trying to kill us. She had no map for this conversation, so she was hoping that directness was the best approach.

  And why would I do that? The voice sounded vaguely amused now. The waves had not returned, but she understood that they could do so with little notice.

  "I can tell that you are angry," she said. "If you tell me what you want, perhaps we could find an agreeable solution."

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  It truly laughed, then. Its laughter resembled a dozen cascading waterfalls, but she recognized it as laughter.

  You? it said. Help me? What can one doomed person offer another? If you are so capable, you should invest your efforts in saving yourself.

  Eluvie said a silent prayer of thanks. That was an opening large enough to build a friendship on.

  Are you trapped too? she asked.

  It responded with another long pause. When it finally spoke, it was with a well-blended combination of amusement and malice.

  I am going to turn this boat over, it said, and drown every one of you. That would be a mercy for you, but I'm not doing it out of kindness. I'm just bored.

  Wait, Eluvie said. And it waited. Give me something. Tell me one thing I can do that will make you spare us for now. There has to be something you want that I can give.

  Its response came with surprising quickness. I want you to free me.

  Free you from what? How are you trapped?

  Free me from this place, it said. From this world.

  Eluvie chased the statement around in her mind, but she could not deduce its meaning.

  It's not a metaphor. The voice sounded irritated. I am trapped on this disgusting wasteland of a planet. Free me from it, and I won't have any reason to kill you.

  Eluvie did not know how she could achieve such a thing, but there was only one answer available to her.

  "Of course," she said. "I will learn what I can and do everything in my power to free you."

  Thankfully, the voice did not notice or comment on her mild sarcasm. "Swear it," it said. "Say, 'I swear by my rank that if it is ever within my ability, I will free you.'"

  That gave Eluvie pause. She was a deft hand at manipulation, so she knew when she was its target. This voice, whatever it was, might have attacked their ship out of boredom, but its entire conversation with her had been intended toward this end.

  She did not know what the oath meant, and she suspected that it would not tell her. She also knew, instinctively, that refusing would not end well for her. Perhaps the rulers would escape and revive her using another seed. But perhaps they would not.

  So, she gave the oath. "I swear by my rank that if it is ever within my ability, I will free you."

  A sense of contentment met her mind. Then, naturally, it said, I will allow you to live. Take care of yourself. You're holding both of our hopes.

  There were many questions Eluvie wanted to ask, but she held her tongue. When she opened her eyes and saw every person on the ship watching her, she knew that she had made the correct choice.

  Mirab walked her back to her bedroom, staying silent most of the way. Before she left, she asked how Eluvie had stopped the storm. Eluvie responded that she wasn't entirely certain - which was true. And Mirab did not push further. Neither trusted the other, evidently, but they saw no need to make a fuss about it yet.