During a stop in Oakwald Forest, Celaena is led into a clearing under heavy guard. Chaol stays close, and although Celaena considers escape, the chains and the number of trained soldiers make it impractical. When food is served, Chaol removes the irons from Celaena's wrists only to fasten them to Celaena's ankles, allowing Celaena to eat while remaining restrained.

Celaena observes the camp as the soldiers eat. Dorian sits apart with Perrington, and Celaena notices that Dorian's earlier amusement has vanished; Dorian appears tense and displeased while speaking with the duke. The forest grows unnaturally silent, drawing Celaena's attention to Oakwald's strange beauty and stirring memories of Terrasen, her childhood, and Arobynn Hamel, who found Celaena orphaned by a frozen river and trained Celaena under a new name.

When soldiers insult Oakwald and say it should be burned, Celaena snaps that the forest belonged to King Brannon and is tied to the Fae. The soldiers mock the idea of ancient trees and immortal Fae, but Chaol asks Celaena what Celaena knows. Celaena says only that the forest was once cloaked in magic before Adarlan's conquest, deliberately withholding the larger truth.

Celaena privately recalls that Oakwald was once home to faeries and Fae, and that Adarlan's king outlawed magic, hunted magical beings, burned books, executed gifted people, and sent many survivors to Endovier. Celaena also remembers that magic vanished soon after the proclamation and reflects uneasily on her own lost abilities, wondering whether their disappearance spared Celaena from destruction.

After lunch, the party continues through the forest. Celaena remains tense until the shimmering glen is far behind, then spends the night shackled inside a small guarded tent. In the morning, Celaena finds small white flowers by the cot and infant-sized footprints leading in and out of the tent. Celaena quickly destroys the tracks and hides the flowers, then travels on with a racing heart, watching the woods and the soldiers for signs that anyone else noticed.