Elspeth sits on black sand beside the gold-armored man who pulled her from the water. Waves move over their ankles in a dark, skyless place, and the man finally names himself Aemmory Percyval Taxus.

Elspeth tries to understand who Taxus is, but her memory is fractured. Taxus tells her she will remember soon enough because there is little to do in this place except remember.

Elspeth only knows her own name because Taxus has called her by it. When she repeats “Elspeth Spindle,” Taxus vanishes without leaving footprints, and Elspeth is left alone with the endless water, sand, and absence of time.

Elspeth remains without food, sleep, or any sense of time passing. When Taxus returns, Elspeth admits she still cannot remember him or anything else.

Taxus offers to tell Elspeth their story. He frames it as the tale of a clever girl and a magic-ruling King who were together, became the same, and became a monster, revealing that Elspeth and Taxus are bound by a shared, unsettling identity.