The knights are stunned to discover the Indigo Knight is Sir Lancelot, who greets them warmly. Most embrace him, but Bedivere refuses, accusing him of betraying Arthur and threatening to kill him if he speaks Arthur's name. Bedivere storms out to camp in the fields. Lancelot leads the others to Hoxmead Abbey, where he has become a novice monk seeking penance after Camlann.

Over dinner, Lancelot recounts how, unable to find an honorable death after failing to save Arthur, he begged the monks to take him in. He explains he was silent during the tournament because God willed it as a surprise. Palomides explains their quest for the Holy Lance and asks Lancelot to join them or become king. Lancelot refuses, saying his place is at the abbey, that Bedivere wouldn't accept it, and that he is unfit.

The knights linger at the abbey for a day. Nimue is barred from the library and joins Bedivere outside. That evening Lancelot tells the story of his first miracle—healing Sir Meliot de Logres—and the overwhelming experience of God's love that drove him relentlessly toward perfection thereafter. He reveals he was raised under a lake by a Lady of the Lake who later tried to seduce him; he killed her and escaped. He admits he chased miracles to compel God's love, that Elaine and Galahad were the cracks that ended his miracles, and that Sir Meliot later betrayed him by joining Mordred's ambush.

Pressed by Dinadan, Constantine, and Collum to accept kingship, Lancelot loses his composure briefly but refuses. He finally reveals the truth about the night of the scandal: Mordred forged a message luring him to Guinevere's chambers; she had not summoned him and did not want him. He confesses he would have committed adultery had she wished it, and cannot forgive himself. He bids them goodnight and prays for their quest.

The next morning the knights depart at sunrise, joined silently by Nimue and Bedivere, and ride north.