How does Ship of Magic end?
During a violent storm, the slaves chained aboard the Vivacia rise up and kill nearly all of the crew, and Wintrow takes the wheel to keep the ship from capsizing. Kennit arrives aboard the Marietta, is welcomed by the freed slaves, and claims the liveship as his own. The novel closes with the Vivacia under Kennit's control, Kyle held prisoner, Wintrow still aboard, and Althea sailing home on the Ophelia, determined to win back her family's ship.
How does Kennit capture the Vivacia in Ship of Magic?
Kennit has been hunting a liveship to serve as flagship for his plan to become King of the Pirate Isles. When the slave revolt guts the Vivacia's crew mid-storm, the Marietta bears down on the chaos, and the freed slaves recognize Kennit's Raven flag as the mark of the pirate who liberates slaves and welcome him aboard. He takes possession of the newly quickened ship without a real fight.
What happens to Wintrow and Kyle at the end of Ship of Magic?
Both survive the uprising, and when the freed slaves move to execute Kyle, Wintrow steps in and bargains for both their lives. He offers to doctor the pirate's festering leg wound and to help settle the liveship, and Kennit, impressed by the boy's nerve, accepts. The book ends with Kyle a captive and Wintrow, twice tattooed, bound to a ship that is falling under a charismatic pirate's spell.
Does Althea get her ship's ticket in Ship of Magic?
No. Disguised as a boy called Athel, she earns the respect of the Reaper's captain through grueling work, but once he learns she is a woman he refuses to sign her certification. She parts from Brashen after a quarrel and sails back toward Bingtown aboard the warm liveship Ophelia, planning to pursue her claim to the Vivacia under the Traders' rules. The book leaves her ticketless but undeterred.
Why does Vivacia agree to sail with Kennit?
Defending Wintrow during the takeover, the newly quickened ship finds herself unexpectedly drawn to the pirate's daring as she never was to Kyle. Charmed by Kennit, she consents to become his pirate vessel. Her choice leaves Wintrow, the family member she is bonded to, caught between his link to the ship and the man now winning her over.
What does the ending of Ship of Magic set up for The Mad Ship?
Nearly every storyline stops mid-arc by design. Kennit holds the Vivacia and has his kingship in sight, though his leg wound still festers; Althea heads home to fight for her ship; Paragon lies beached with Amber and Brashen contending over his fate; the Vestrit debts tighten around Malta and her Rain Wild suitor Reyn Khuprus; and the serpents keep swimming north in search of She Who Remembers. All of it continues in The Mad Ship.