In this short-story, the ocean is a vast, unknowable thing. A seaside kingdom clings to the shoreline, a parasite that depends on and venerates the deep. Their prince's coronation is near, but he grapples with trauma, unwilling to go through with the ritual. He fears the ocean, its strange persuasion. He must come to terms with it if he ever hopes to be king.

Surrounded by mountains, Valle is a city cut off from the rest of the world. Fueled by the freedom that comes with seclusion, its people have largely been left to their own devices- a place where humans have lived side-by-side with the mysterious- and powerful- spirits for generations. Fela has spent her entire life in Valle with no notion of her true lineage. Instead, she lives with her adopted mother and sister, using her spiritual powers to help out in the workshop. She may be different than her human family, but the Lodenstones are as close as anything. Still, when their tranquil little city is rocked by a natural disaster, human and spirit alike must deal with the aftermath, leaving Fela painfully aware of her differences. Suddenly, the very existence of spiritkind has now been put into jeapordy- including Fela. The Lodenstones must venture into an infected world- and face their history, to boot- for the sake of a single daughter... and for a solution to a quickly approaching catastrophe that will rock the world.