After the battle for Sinegard, Rin is kept sedated in the basement of the main hall. She overhears Daji, Jun, and Irjah arguing over her confinement: Irjah objects that she is being treated like a criminal, Jun fears she could burn the city, and Daji identifies her as another Altan. Rin also half-hears that Jiang, called the Gatekeeper, has been “dealt with.”

When Rin becomes alert enough to leave, Third Division soldiers stop her under orders. Rin throws a prolonged tantrum until Jun comes, but Jun insists her ability to ignite half the city makes her too dangerous to release. Rin asks to see Jiang, but Jun gives no answer, leaving Rin to wait and hope the masters will vouch for her loyalty.

Visitors are allowed in. Niang comes often but is overwhelmed by grief for Raban, while Kitay brings news from the city. Rin learns that the Federation retreated after she killed their general and the Empress arrived with the Third Division, but Sinegard is being evacuated because reinforcements are coming and the city cannot survive another attack. The Academy is being dissolved into the Divisions: Kitay goes to the Second under Irjah, Niang to the Eleventh, Venka to the Sixth, and Nezha remains in triage with a possibly severed spine. Jiang has vanished from the ruined east wall with no proof of life or death.

After Kitay leaves, Rin is isolated, exhausted, and frightened by what calling the Phoenix means. On the sixth day, Irjah, now promoted to general, tells Rin that the Warlords have decided she will not join any of the Twelve Divisions. Because the Militia fears Speerlies and the Warlords would fight over the advantage she represents, Irjah has recommended that Rin be sent to the Cike, the Empress’s hidden thirteenth division.

Rin is horrified until Irjah introduces her new commander: Altan Trengsin, now scarred and leading the Cike. Altan recognizes Rin as another surviving Speerly, admits he thought he was the only one left, and promises to help her control what is happening. As Altan leads Rin out, he explains that the Cike includes shamans, a munitions expert, and a physician, and that they train dangerous or discarded people at the Night Castle to serve the Empress.

Rin hastily collects a sword and joins Altan and Officer Yenjen’s Fifth Division squadron on the march south. Altan explains that they are heading to Khurdalain, a vulnerable port city in Tiger Province that the Empress has chosen as the critical front. Khurdalain’s waterways may slow the Federation’s superior armor, but if the city falls and Mugen reaches Golyn Niis, Nikan may be lost.