Hadrian reflects on time, memory, unrealized futures, and the idea that there are no prophecies, only probabilities shaped by present action. Drunk and troubled on the beach below Calagah, Hadrian turns over the Empire, the Chantry, Anaïs, Gilliam, the Jaddians, and the Cielcin war as if arranging pieces on a board.

Valka finds Hadrian on the shore, and their conversation begins awkwardly because Hadrian has been avoiding Valka since the incident in the tunnels and since Valka saw Anaïs kiss him. Valka says Hadrian need not discuss either matter if Hadrian does not want to, and Valka dismisses Hadrian's shame over Anaïs by pointing out that Anaïs is meant to be Hadrian's future wife.

Hadrian admits that Hadrian does not want to marry Anaïs, remain trapped on Emesh, or wait for the Chantry to punish Hadrian for killing Gilliam. Valka reveals that Valka once wanted to be a pilot, but Valka's father died while working as a xenologist and ran afoul of the Inquisition on Ozymandias. Hadrian explains drawing and sharpening pencils as rituals that help Hadrian think, and the exchange softens into a more honest conversation about grief, resentment, privilege, and confinement.

When Valka challenges Hadrian's unhappiness despite Hadrian's palatine status and potential marriage into planetary rule, Hadrian angrily insists that years of poverty, loss, and violence have made privilege more complicated than Valka assumes. Hadrian takes responsibility for killing Gilliam but argues that a forced marriage to Anaïs would still be a prison. Hadrian and Valka discover that both once wanted ships and freedom, and Valka offers a quiet apology.

Later, or perhaps in Hadrian's uncertain memory of the final night at Calagah, the sky erupts with red, white, blue, and pink light. A tremendous shockwave throws Hadrian down, and the camp's technicians run out in panic, guessing at a meteor, a ship, or a Cielcin attack. Hadrian realizes that a ship has fallen from orbit under fire while smaller craft blockade the sky.

Hadrian acts before fear overwhelms the camp, ordering a technician named Bel to find Elomas and contact Springdeep for fliers and soldiers. Hadrian decides the camp is an obvious target and tells Valka they must move everyone to the beach. Valka studies the wreck and confirms that, although the ship was shot down, it was not human, strengthening their conclusion that the Cielcin have reached Emesh.