2 West

While recalling her first menstruation at twelve, Glorian, now fifteen, is thrown from her palfrey during a morning ride to find oak galls, a harmless superstition discussed with her ladies. The fall drives a shard of bone through her upper arm. Guards rush her to Drouthwick Castle, where Royal Surgeon Doctor Forthard, an apprentice sanctarian, and bonesetter Mastress Kell Bourn prepare to set the fracture. Dame Erda forbids potent sedatives, and the team resets the bone as Glorian screams and faints.

Glorian wakes bandaged and strapped, aching and feverish. Florell Glade, First Lady to Queen Sabran, soothes her, explaining the wound is cleansed and sewn, and that the northern air will aid healing. Glorian quietly longs for her mother’s presence but learns Sabran is in urgent council, a reminder that state matters outrank her comfort.

The next day, after tonics and tending, Glorian asks for her friend and future chief lady, Julain Crest. Julain arrives late, distraught and blaming herself for failing to protect Glorian. Glorian insists the horse was at fault and asks only that Julain never abandon her. Julain swears it, and they share a fragile reconciliation.

As evening settles, the reassurance of Florell’s care, Julain’s vow, and the ache of her cast clarify Glorian’s changing world. The accident becomes a stark lesson in her mortality and importance to Inys, and Glorian recognizes that the carefree pursuits of childhood must yield to the demands of imminent queenship.