In a world where ascended dolphins walk the land, arcane waste rains from the sky. Vhar is dying. Comets of strange debris crash into the ocean, spreading a Taint no herb can cure. The native Nazril despair as the water fouls and their magic begins to fade. Proud island empires have fractured, warring over the waste they now need to survive. Kural Serpentsbane was once a general, crossing portals to crusade across the stars—until a mysterious crisis of faith. Branded a heretic, he finds himself trapped on a dying world, clinging to the only family he has his daughter, Tarka. She too can Call the water, but her power scares him. Chafing against his grip, she seeks the answers her father won’t give, drawn to the very Temple he denounced. When Tarka falls prey to the Taint, the pair must quest for the only cure—the mystical Starfrost. But the cleansing rime lies buried in the deadliest waste, scattered across the lightless deep. After all this time, who knows what stirs below?