Shae returns to the Kaul house after midnight from the Weather Man’s office, with Woon still serving as her tireless Shadow and Chief of Staff. Because of the war and her new position, Shae has given up her apartment and declined the Standard & Croft Appliance job offer, losing two hard-won pieces of independence. She now lives again in her childhood room, while Hilo also stays in the main house, and neither sibling enters Lan’s room.

Before Shae can go inside, Maik Wen approaches from the Horn’s residence and invites Shae for tea. Shae is reluctant, partly because she has barely spoken with Wen and resents Wen’s presence, but Wen’s attention to Shae’s habits and gentle insistence persuade Shae to come. As they cross the garden, Wen admits she also resisted moving to the estate, but decided it was best for the people she loves.

Inside the renovated Horn’s residence, Shae is impressed by how completely Wen has transformed the formerly shabby house. Shae assumes Wen wants help finding a more suitable clan job, as Hilo had asked, but Wen shows little interest in ordinary secretarial work. Over tea mixed with Espenian cinnamon whiskey, Shae reflects on Wen’s stone-eye stigma, the troubled Maik family reputation, and Shae’s own resentment that Hilo’s relationship with Wen is accepted while Shae’s foreign lover was not.

Wen then reveals her true purpose: she asks Shae what work would help the clan win the war. Wen rejects the idea that the conflict belongs only to Green Bones, pointing out that if the Mountain wins, Hilo and Wen’s brothers will die. When Wen asks what the most useful role for a stone-eye would be, Shae names the answer both women already know: White Rat.

Wen offers to work secretly as Shae’s White Rat, using her jade immunity and anonymity outside No Peak to spy, smuggle, carry messages, or steal. Shae warns that Hilo would never allow it and that Wen would be lying to her future husband, but Wen argues that Hilo’s love makes him overprotective and that Shae’s duty is to save the clan, not merely obey the Pillar. Wen also judges Hilo as brilliant as Horn but poorly suited to the farsighted politics of being Pillar.

Shae leaves unsettled, realizing she has underestimated Wen’s intelligence, ambition, and hidden steel. Shae sees that allying with Wen could be powerful but dangerous, especially because Hilo would not forgive them for going behind his back. Before leaving, Shae tells Wen that Hilo may have better taste than Shae had given him credit for, and Wen bids her good night as sister.