Elspeth surfaces into fragments of memory: irises in a parlor, a red-leaved tree beneath a narrow house, a wood, laughter, a library, white robes, blood, claw marks, and the Nightmare’s command to get up. When Elspeth reaches inward for the Nightmare’s voice, Elspeth finds only absence, leaving her thoughts hollow and unfamiliar.

Taxus stands over Elspeth on the dark shore and tells Elspeth that she is remembering. Elspeth asks where she is, and Taxus calls it a place to rest and recover, but Elspeth rejects that answer and asks to be let out. Taxus promises that it will happen soon, then leaves without leaving footprints.

Alone on the shore, Elspeth works to reconstruct her identity from broken memories. Names return with effort: Opal, Nya, Dimia, Erik, and Tyrn, along with their relationships to Elspeth as aunt, half sisters, father, and uncle.

Elspeth then remembers a walk through the wood, a nameday rhyme about a yellow girl, and Ione. The memory sharpens into the fact that Elspeth joined Ione in town, followed Ione to Elspeth’s father’s house, left early, and then met two highwaymen on the forest road.