The Crimson Guard are close to Assail. Damaged by storms they put in to an island for repairs. There are Letherii vessels nearby. K'azz, meets their leader, Luthal Canar, who claims the whole island, considers them trespassers and intends to confiscate Mael's Greetings and its cargo as a penalty. K'azz agrees instead to a trial of payment for a much larger amount: he will be weighed down with rocks and thrown into the bay. If he succeeds in walking underwater to the distant shore the debt will be considered paid. To everyone else's surprise he succeeds in doing so, though Luthal reneges on the agreement. Back at the ship K'azz orders the Guard to appropriate one of the Letherii vessels as recompense.