Isolde caught her where the coast broke into reefs and the painted channels ran out.
The white hull was fast. The living ship was meaner in dirty water. Isolde took a seam under the reef line and came up on Shen Yuelan's blind quarter, close enough that the crack's note crawled across our deck and made the coral rail hum. Elizabeth flinched. I did not. The thread had been on that seam since Low Mast. Being nearer only made the pull honest.
"Boarding is a gift if she wants a second witness," Vale said.
"Then we do not board," Elizabeth said. "We take the crack. He drinks it. I hold her eyes so she cannot spend the name while he does. Isolde keeps us on the rib and off the deck."
Isolde hated the plan and did it.
