Full Fathom Five

On the island of Kavekana, Kai works with constructed idols that store soulstuff and protect clients who want divine power without true gods. After she tries to save a dying idol and is badly injured, she is sidelined and treated as unstable, but she keeps digging into why the island’s idols are failing.

At the same time, Izza, a teenage street thief and reluctant leader among island urchins, tries to survive a rigid society policed by the Penitents and shaped by the absence of the old gods. Her path crosses with forbidden worship, hidden survivors, and signs that the island’s religious and economic systems are less stable than they seem.

As Kai and Izza move through different levels of island life, their stories gradually connect through poetry, prophecy, old and returning faces, and escalating suspicion. What begins as a rescue and an investigation becomes a wider struggle over truth, control, and what Kavekana is really protecting.