Chapter Four: Zélie

Zélie and Tzain ride toward Lagos in tense silence after Baba’s near-drowning. Tzain demands she be more careful, then softens, giving Zélie a dagger and urging her to do better for Baba’s sake. Zélie promises and proceeds alone to trade.

At the city gate, a drunk guard assaults Zélie while a sober guard watches. She restrains herself to avoid trouble and enters Lagos, where she sees divîner slums and a stocker burning a boy with a majacite cane, a stark reminder of the risks she faces.

In the bustling market, Zélie targets a status-conscious noble and boldly haggles, ultimately selling her rare sailfish for five hundred silvers—enough to cover taxes and a new boat. Her triumph is cut short when royal guards swarm the bazaar, sending vendors and shoppers into panic.

As Zélie tries to escape with the money, a cloaked girl with striking amber eyes seizes her wrist and pleads for help, pulling Zélie into an alley as the search intensifies.