Rin trains for hours with Altan, who repeatedly defeats her and criticizes her for fighting defensively out of fear. Altan tells Rin that calling the Phoenix should be a controlled state of ecstasy, not a desperate accident, and he urges her to focus on killing rather than merely surviving.

Altan’s teaching contrasts sharply with Jiang’s. Where Jiang taught Rin to empty her mind and consult the gods without weaponizing them, Altan insists that shamans must impose their will on divine power through discipline. Rin feels a deep sense of belonging with Altan because of their shared Speerly heritage, but she also worries that she cannot summon or control the Phoenix as naturally as Altan can.

After weeks of travel, Rin, Altan, and Yenjen’s squadron reach Khurdalain, where Rin sees the ocean for the first time. Altan points across the sea toward Mugen and south toward Speer, briefly describing Speer’s beauty and its connection to the Phoenix before avoiding Rin’s questions about why he survived the island’s destruction.

Inside Khurdalain, Qara escorts Rin and Altan through the besieged port city and explains the military situation. Federation forces surround most of the city and have taken parts of the foreign quarter, while Nikara commanders argue over supplies and plans. General Jun Loran has taken command of the Fifth Division, and tensions between his conventional soldiers and the Cike erupt when Jun drags Ramsa in for stealing fire powder.

Altan defends Ramsa and asserts that only he may discipline Cike operatives, but the confrontation makes clear that the Cike are isolated and resented by the rest of the Militia. Qara then outfits Rin in an unmarked black Cike uniform, orders her to give up her Sinegard armband, and warns her that in the Cike reputation, school rank, and personal glory no longer matter; loyalty to the unit and the Empire does.

Rin meets Enki, who controls drug supplies and measures her poppy doses carefully, warning that addicted shamans are better off dead. At the mess hall, Rin is introduced to several Cike members: Baji, Aratsha, Unegen, and others whose gods grant strange abilities. The meal is interrupted when Suni returns unstable and attacks Unegen, but Altan subdues and calms him by anchoring Suni’s identity to the Cike, showing both the danger of shamanism and Altan’s authority over the unit.