Jude lies on Vivi’s couch in the mortal world, unable to focus on television or the fish sticks in front of her. Vivi joins her and says Heather will not answer Vivi’s texts, revealing that Jude’s exile has placed her inside another household crisis.

Jude recalls arriving at Vivi’s home a week earlier after Rannoch and his coterie carried her out of Faerie and abandoned her in a random mortal town. Exhausted and lost, Jude eventually found a taxi to Vivi’s apartment, only to discover that Heather had moved out after learning the truth about Vivi’s glamour. When Vivi removed the glamour, Heather recovered her memories and went to stay with her parents.

Jude tries to reassure Vivi that Heather may only need time, though Jude is not confident. Jude also thinks ahead to Oak coming home from school, when she will pretend things are normal and practice swordplay with him without frightening him about its real purpose.

Vivi tries to pull Jude out of despair by saying Cardan only defeated her because she was weakened by captivity in the Undersea. Vivi urges Jude to give the mortal world a chance, but when Jude remains uncertain, Vivi suggests that Jude could join Madoc. Jude rejects the idea of working to put Oak on the throne, since protecting Oak was the point of so many of her choices.

Vivi reframes the idea as a way to hurt Cardan, and that possibility wakes Jude’s strategic instincts. Jude remembers that Grimsen is still active and wonders what he could create for her if he once could make a crown for Balekin. Vivi offers ice cream and jokingly calls Jude the Queen of Faerie in exile, but the title hurts; as they eat, Jude’s mind begins turning again toward strength and revenge.