Diem watches her brother Teller enter the Descended academy and worries about the danger of his growing closeness to Descended society. Teller’s education gives him opportunities most mortal men in Lumnos never receive, but Diem knows mortal lives remain sharply limited, especially by laws forbidding marriage and children between mortals and Lumnos Descended.

Henri shares Diem’s concern, especially if Teller becomes involved with a princess. The conversation shifts into flirtation as Henri invites Diem to join him on a two-night delivery trip to Fortos. Diem initially resists because Maura and Diem’s father depend on her, but the trip also offers a chance to investigate Auralie’s disappearance through her former Emarion Army contacts.

As Diem and Henri walk through Mortal City, Diem reflects on Henri’s courier work, the Descended reliance on mortal messengers outside their realms, and her own envy of his travels. She also thinks bitterly about Mortal City’s name, seeing it as part of the Descended erasure of mortal culture rather than true unity.

At the healers’ center, Diem begins work with Maura and reflects on her unusually advanced training. Although Diem is a skilled mortal healer, Auralie had forbidden her from learning how to treat Descended patients, even hiding notes from her. Maura, unlike Auralie, has been open about Descended calls since Auralie vanished six months earlier.

Diem asks Maura about accompanying Henri to Fortos. Maura teases Diem about Henri and love, agrees to spare Diem for the trip, and gives Diem contraceptive tonic, embarrassing her. Shortly after the apprentices arrive, an elegant, frightened young Descended man bursts into the healers’ center, signaling an urgent new problem.