53 South

Tunuva, Siyu, infant Lukiri, Canthe, and ichneumon Ninuru return to the Priory from Carmentum, which now burns with wyrmfire. Canthe is weak and cold after unleashing a strange power; Tunuva delivers her for care and brings Siyu to Esbar.

In the Bridal Chamber, Esbar confronts Siyu: she condemns Siyu’s departure, endangerment of Lukiri, and Lalhar’s death, yet retains her as a warrior while forbidding a new ichneumon. Siyu chooses the Priory. Tunuva recounts Carmentum’s fall, and Esbar outlines urgent plans to warn allies and dispatch men under Daraniya’s direction.

Esbar shares archival research: the first plague may result from direct wyrm exposure to siden; a cure might be distilled from orange blossoms via a limbec. She has men building a new still and has tasked Denag and Imin to reconstruct the method. At Esbar’s request, Tunuva sketches the wyrms and lion-serpent she saw.

Tunuva reveals Canthe’s other magic: a cold, white light that repelled wyrms. Esbar fears empowering Canthe further and refuses to make her a postulant, though she allows Canthe to remain as a guest. Tension flares between Esbar and Tunuva, but they reconcile intimately, resolve to face the coming war, and at dawn bathe, reaffirming their bond. Esbar rides that night to warn Queen Daraniya; Tunuva will follow after Ninuru rests.

Tunuva visits the men’s quarters, exchanges resolve with Imsurin, then checks on Canthe. Canthe explains her power as sterren—starlight opposed to siden—now depleted until a comet returns. She suggests Suttu’s spear may be infused with starlight to harm wyrms. Finally, Canthe recounts rumors from the Inysh Lakes: a foundling “Child of the Woods” named Wulfert, bee-terrified and unlike his household, who resembled Tunuva—implying he may be Tunuva’s lost son.