Aelin decides to sacrifice one day despite the urgent and dangerous tasks awaiting her. Keeping to shadows, Aelin shows Rowan Rifthold’s residential districts, markets, docks, and solstice preparations. Rowan identifies which posted royal guards are human and which are possessed by lesser Valg, while Aelin tries to let Rowan see the city’s better side before pulling him into its darker realities.

Aelin takes Rowan to one of Nesryn’s family bakeries and later to the docks, where Rowan convinces Aelin to try pan-fried trout. Their quiet day is disturbed when Aelin and Rowan see enslaved people hauling cargo; Rowan stands silently beside Aelin while Aelin promises herself that ending slavery will be a priority.

In the flower market, Rowan sees a dark-haired flower girl with peonies and is struck by memories of Lyria, the poor flower seller who was Rowan’s mate before Lyria and Rowan’s unborn child were killed. Rowan quietly says he did not deserve Lyria. In response, Aelin offers her own painful truth: Aelin says she did not deserve Sam. The shared grief deepens the intimacy between Aelin and Rowan, and Aelin leads Rowan away.

Aelin brings Rowan to the empty Royal Theater, once Aelin’s favorite place in the world. Aelin explains that Arobynn’s private box let Aelin attend performances, and that music once sustained Aelin through killing, training, and survival. Rowan encourages the idea that a rebuilt Terrasen could someday value artists and a theater of its own, making Aelin consider art as part of the country Aelin wants to restore.

Rowan asks whether the theater has a pianoforte, and Aelin reluctantly goes to the stage. The silent orchestra chairs remind Aelin of the musicians who protested the massacres in Endovier and Calaculla and then disappeared, but Aelin chooses to play despite not having done so since before Nehemia’s death. Aelin performs a triumphant, life-affirming piece that fills the dead theater with sound, moving Rowan to tears. Rowan then asks Aelin to show him how Aelin played, and Aelin spends nearly an hour teaching Rowan the instrument’s basics.

When Rowan hears someone coming to investigate the music, Aelin and Rowan slip out. Aelin stops at the Royal Bank and makes Rowan wait outside to avoid attracting attention, then leaves with another bag of gold to support their growing household. Rowan questions how Aelin will fund them later, but Aelin only says that Aelin will take care of it, teasing Rowan into annoyance rather than grief.