The Blackbeak Clan finishes assembling at the Ferian Gap after the other Ironteeth clans and receives the worst rooms in the Omega, one of the peaks flanking the pass. Manon hears the promised wyverns across the gap in the Northern Fang but has not yet seen them. The gathering is tense because the once-vast witch kingdom has dwindled to about three thousand witches, and old clan rivalries immediately flare.

Manon recalls breaking up a fight between Asterin and a Yellowlegs sentinel who insulted the Blackbeaks. Although Asterin did most of the damage, Manon punishes her with three blows to preserve discipline. Asterin accepts the punishment proudly, reinforcing the brutal loyalty between Manon and her Second, while Manon judges Yellowlegs heir Iskra for failing to punish her own sentinel properly.

After a perfunctory memorial for Baba Yellowlegs, Manon remains frustrated that no one knows who killed the former Yellowlegs Matron or why. Manon joins the Matrons and coven leaders near the black bridge to the Northern Fang, noting the strange, unnatural smell of the place. She observes the three High Witches, the Blueblood heir Petrah, and Iskra, whose challenging attitude makes Manon consider how easily clan rivalry could become deadly if formal provocation allowed it.

The witches cross the black bridge into the Northern Fang, where the king’s men guide them through the wyvern facilities. The men explain how wyverns are bred, separated, trained, and tested in pits, including the use of weak or broken wyverns as bait beasts. The witches bristle when told gentler wyverns have been prepared for beginner training, though the Blueblood Matron pragmatically compares the process to learning to ride before taking a warhorse.

On a viewing platform above a training pit, the witches are shown Titus, a powerful bull wyvern. Manon is captivated by his size, endurance, venomous tail, and lethal aggression. When Titus kills and eats one of the men in the pit, the witches respond with predatory fascination, and Manon feels certain she belongs there. Manon decides she will claim Titus or no mount at all, sensing a dark kinship with the beast.