In Cahlish’s library, Kingfisher worries over Saeris after hearing Saeris call out for Edina. Saeris tells Kingfisher about the encounter with Kingfisher’s mother but honors Edina’s request by keeping the hidden book secret. Saeris is more frightened by Edina’s warning about sealing Saeris’s Alchemical runes, because the pain in Everlayne’s bedroom felt like Saeris’s magic was burning Saeris apart.

Te Léna, Maynir, and Iseabail examine Saeris but have little useful knowledge. Te Léna explains that Belikon’s purge erased nearly all records about Alchemists, while Iseabail says the witch city of Nevercross may have ancient histories but its catacombs are forbidden to outsiders and likely hold no Alchemical records. Kingfisher warns that the spreading rot will eventually reach the witches’ lands, but Iseabail expects the Guild to delay action until the threat arrives.

Renfis and Lorreth return from Irrín with grim news: most of the Yvelian forces reached the rally point, but another thousand warriors were lost after the rot infected them. Their comrades had to kill them, and every corpse left behind spreads the corruption further. Because the rot survives snow, ice, and burned ground, Renfis and Lorreth have found no way to stop it.

Kingfisher decides the others must know what happened to Saeris in the quicksilver. Saeris reveals that Zareth, Bal, and Mithin summoned Saeris, that Zareth severed Saeris and Kingfisher from the gods’ sight while preserving and strengthening their bond, and that Zareth showed Saeris a cosmic tree whose realms were being consumed by rot. Saeris explains that the gods may abandon the current universe unless Saeris and Kingfisher’s unpredictable place in fate produces another outcome.

The conversation shifts when Carrion’s age raises questions about Carrion’s identity as the Daianthus heir. Kingfisher reasons that when Kingfisher’s father took Carrion through the quicksilver, the gods may have delayed Carrion’s arrival in Zilvaren, allowing centuries to pass in Yvelia while little time passed for Carrion. Kingfisher also privately tells Saeris that, during Kingfisher’s own encounter with the gods at Ajun, Kingfisher sensed Saeris across time.

Renfis brings the discussion back to immediate survival. Saeris argues that the relics are more necessary than ever because infected feeders disobeyed Saeris’s command, meaning the horde at Ammontraíeth could become uncontrollable if the rot reaches them. The group realizes they may need enough silver for a mass evacuation beyond Yvelia, so Saeris will search Ammontraíeth for a forge while Carrion volunteers to accompany Kingfisher to the Silver City. Carrion argues that the trip can secure silver, investigate whether infected feeders came from Zilvaren, and find Saeris’s brother Hayden; Kingfisher reluctantly agrees.