The Eternal Vigilance limps southward, and encounters a strange skycraft being chased by a second. The airship tries to avoid the exchange, but the smaller craft draws close to the airship, risking that it might be hit by missile fire from its pursuer. Elijah decides to take action, and has the smaller craft apprehended, while he goes to the larger one to find out what is going on. He learns that the smaller craft contains the daughter of a local ruler, stolen away by a court entertainer. He decides to honor the wishes of the father, and returns the errant daughter and her suitor, and is offered assistance for the crippled Vigilance.

With the other airship as an escort, the Vigilance ventures into an area where strange phenomena can be seen: chunks of "ice" that float in the air, and a people that harvest chunks of this to allow flight in their airships, and several sky islands. At one of these sky islands, they are granted hospitality by King Ashstone, and they learn that these saber-toothed cats are known as Prometheans, and that some strange hairy flying Naga-like creatures that mine the "isetis" are known as Yverneti.

Elijah bargains for the life of the offending courtier, promising to take him far away, if his life will be spared. The king, in good spirits, agrees to this, so long as Elijah agrees to keep him far away.