"It might be necessary for me to steal someone's canoe," Bell muses. "And push that out so it can drift back in later, empty of Shell Bells." She sighs. "This is not going to make Ranae and Shark happy, not in the least, but I can un-die when we're all done, if everything goes all right - and if everything goes pear-shaped I can slip away to the multiverse at the next opportunity without worrying further about them."