Nona begins the morning by recounting a recurring dream to Camilla Hect while Camilla records and takes notes. In the dream, Nona is in safe water, held by a woman whose painted face feels important but unfamiliar. When the memory fades, Camilla ends the session, and Nona dresses quickly, proud of her improved coordination but still unsure who she is.

Nona joins Pyrrha in the dark kitchen of their apartment, where Pyrrha makes eggs despite Nona’s dislike of hot food. Their home life is cramped, careful, and rule-bound: they avoid noisy neighbors with militia or police connections, ration food, track Pyrrha’s jokes for Palamedes’s data, and maintain routines meant to keep Nona calm and functional. Pyrrha braids Nona’s long hair while Nona eats under protest.

Camilla enters, but Nona immediately recognizes from posture and eyes that Palamedes is currently using Camilla’s body. Palamedes and Pyrrha discuss shortages, work, and then withdraw to the bedroom for a private talk. Nona, instead of finishing breakfast quietly, eavesdrops through the door while holding eggs in her mouth.

During the conversation, Pyrrha and Palamedes argue over their situation with Blood of Eden, the besieged barracks, and their search-and-recovery priorities. Palamedes wants to help the trapped Cohort soldiers and refuses to abandon millions of endangered people, but Pyrrha warns that Blood of Eden’s internal balance has shifted, We Suffer has lost influence, more ruthless factions are taking control, and a purge may be coming. Pyrrha says she would choose Nona, Camilla, Palamedes, and herself over everyone else and wants to escape off-world if she can find a ship.

Palamedes’s allotted time ends, and Camilla returns control of the body. The household prepares to leave: Pyrrha shaves, Camilla enforces hats and masks, and Pyrrha drills Nona and Camilla on scatter words, all-clear signals, and emergency stations if the thing in the sky becomes dangerous. Nona hopes to rescue animals in an emergency, while Camilla insists she would fight; Pyrrha rejects both impulses and ushers them out into the heat.