Emperor Warsovran plans to take over the world with Silverdeath, a magical weapon buried centuries ago for fear that its power would be misused. Silverdeath unleashes circles of fiery destruction obeying a mathematical progression: the cirumfrence doubles with each iteration and the time between circles halves until either half the area or the whole circumference is over water. Deaconess Velander identifies this progression and saves the lives of her fellow voyagers on the Shadowmoon. Shortly thereafter, the mathematics of navigation saves her life again and she declares mathematics her new "soulmate."