Oh Second Book Syndrome, how I loathe thee.
A lot of walking/floating down a river. Too much of Kordas's thoughts wasting time just narrating what was happening and how exactly he felt about every little thing (yeah, I know we're introduced to the presence of Foresight).

Also Moon Moon has made an appearance? I think Ms. Lackey has just completely embraced internet meme culture and it's taken over her writing. Not a totally bad thing, but always jarring and turning upside down the medieval, fantasy world of Velgarth I've held in my brain for over 20 years now...