Emil Retvenko, a Ravkan Grisha Squaller, drinks in a grim Barrel tavern in Ketterdam and dwells on how far his life has fallen. Once indentured to Councilman Hoede in relative comfort, Retvenko now rents out his wind-summoning abilities on sea voyages so he can buy out his indenture and return to Ravka.

The barkeep’s casual question about Retvenko being Ravkan makes Retvenko uneasy because Grisha have been disappearing in Ketterdam. Retvenko leaves for Fourth Harbor, thinking of a possible pardon from Ravka’s young king despite Retvenko’s brutal actions during the civil war.

At the harbor, Retvenko reports to the first mate of a ship bound for Djerholm and is told to wait in the harbormaster’s office until the Council of Tides gives a signal. Irritated and drunk, Retvenko uses a small gust to scatter the first mate’s papers, then goes inside, where a clerk offers him coffee and questions him about being Grisha.

Retvenko hears a cry from the dock, but the clerk dismisses it as gulls. Moments later, the office door explodes inward and a Shu woman with golden eyes enters. The clerk shoots her with a shotgun, but she rises again, revealing metal beneath her wounded flesh, knocks the clerk down, and turns on Retvenko.

Retvenko realizes the woman has come for him, not for the payroll, and fights back with his Squaller power. He hurls furniture and then a concentrated storm wind at her, briefly forcing her back through the doorway. As Retvenko takes satisfaction in fighting again, the wall behind him is torn away.

A second attacker, a Shu man with vast mechanical wings, seizes Retvenko and pins Retvenko’s hands so he cannot use his power. As the man carries Retvenko into the sky, Retvenko sees the first mate dead, the ship wrecked, and bodies on the deck, confirming the attackers struck the crew first. Retvenko begs and screams as he is carried away over the harbor.