I knew magic wasn't natural.  I knew it.  Ahab turning into a
woman just for falling into some pool is not natural.  Ahab, as a woman,
is NOT natural.  And Bartholomew now, too.  What seems to be the cure? 
Hot water.  Not water that was in the pool, but hot water.  Ridiculous,
that makes no sense.  Why?  Because it's magic.  Magic makes no sense. 
Magic is not natural.

	If it weren't for the stuff actually being useful on occasion, I
would have nothing to do with it.  I'm certainly not going to monkey
around with it.  I'll leave that to those who are more comfortable with
it.

	But what's the point of magic like those pools?  They didn't even
keep us, well, Ahab specifically, from reclaiming the lost Jewel.  If he
hadn't actually been knocked in, we may have needed to only go fishing,
with no harm done.  Not to mention HE seems fine now.  That pool was only
a cruel delay at best.  Now, if the water turned you into a statue, that
would be a more effective method of preventing someone from recovering the
Jewel shard.

	Hel, that would be bad.  How could I stop magic of that kind from
getting me?  Damn, I can't avoid all pools, most are quite safe.  But
there were no obvious signs the pools were dangerous either.  Nor did
Bartholomew's pool of lava look any different from any other.  Heh, I'll
bet the only way to detect magic is with magic.  No, couldn't be, that
would almost make sense.  There's probably another method of detecting
magic, like casting bones or something...  Well I can't think of a way of
avoiding sustained exposure to cursed magic in every instance.  This does
not bode well for the rest of this quest, if the bits of the Jewel are
always resting in such powerful magic places.