After leaving Baz House at night, Alizeh walks through the royal city to buy supplies for her injured hands. Miss Huda’s order for five gowns has given Alizeh hope, but the extra work makes her damaged palms urgent; without usable hands, Alizeh cannot keep her employment or survive.

Alizeh has already washed at the hamam, and cleanliness steadies her despite the physical cost. As Alizeh moves through snowfall and darkness, Alizeh reflects on her irrational fear of blindness, her ancestors’ punishment, and the way darkness has become the only time she can move with relative freedom.

The streets are unusually chaotic. Drunken crowds sing, chant, dance, smoke, block carriages, carry signs, and parade a straw figure with an iron crown. Alizeh notices the unrest but suppresses her curiosity because servants are easy targets, and Alizeh cannot remove her snoda: her distinctive, changing eyes could reveal her as Jinn and make her memorable to whoever may be hunting her.

Alizeh senses footsteps behind her and becomes afraid, though Alizeh tells herself she may be growing paranoid. Alizeh hurries to the apothecary, where a crowd of injured revelers has packed the shop. The apothecarist drives the disorderly customers out, then nearly expels Alizeh too before realizing Alizeh is there quietly for salve and bandages.

When Alizeh asks only for treatment for her hands, the apothecarist instead notices the laceration on Alizeh’s throat. Alizeh realizes the Fesht boy’s dirty blade may have caused an infected wound, explaining some of Alizeh’s pain and fatigue. The possibility of fever terrifies Alizeh because illness would cost Alizeh her work and likely leave Alizeh to die in the street.