Blood of Eden breaks into the household with a familiar, practiced procedure. Nona, Camilla, and Pyrrha submit because resistance would get them hurt: Nona and Camilla are taped, Pyrrha is additionally handcuffed, and all three are searched before being taken by car to an unknown government-like building. The guards test Nona and Camilla to confirm they are alive and not something else, then separate Pyrrha from them.

In a waiting room, Crown arrives and frees Nona, who is delighted to see her. Camilla has already cut herself loose with a hidden knife, creating tension. Camilla and Crown spar over Pyrrha, Crown’s sword, Crown’s loyalty to Blood of Eden, and the changed relationship between Crown and Camilla; Crown insists We Suffer is on their side, but Camilla rejects that claim.

Crown leads Nona and Camilla to the usual meeting room, where Pyrrha is strapped to a chair with a device that will destroy her spine if she moves too suddenly. We Suffer and We Suffer, accompanied by an armed masked bodyguard, frames the meeting as unofficial and confidential. Pyrrha immediately proves she has deduced their location outside Blood of Eden’s zone, aggravating the bodyguard and prompting We Suffer to move the conversation onward.

The meeting turns to the crisis: a House negotiator has arrived in orbit. We Suffer explains that some Blood of Eden factions are debating whether to shoot the negotiator down, but the anti-negotiation position is weakening. A projection shows a small bone-inlaid shuttle. Camilla, Crown, and Pyrrha analyze the craft and conclude it is not a troop carrier and lacks a stele, so if it is not derelict it may have traveled by the River.

We Suffer reveals that the negotiator’s arrival has made other factions demand a progress report on Nona. Nona is being treated as a hoped-for Lyctor or equivalent asset, though We Suffer admits Nona is not yet what they wanted. Camilla challenges Blood of Eden’s past dealings with Lyctors and rejects We Suffer’s interpretation of Cytherea’s actions at Canaan House, warning that trying to wield a Lyctor as a weapon could be disastrous. The bodyguard argues for a brutal fallback plan involving evacuation, liquidation of the barracks, and carpet-bombing to kill all zombies, provoking Crown into open anger.

Camilla demands proof that the sixteen members of the Sixth House are still alive. We Suffer plays a recent recording from Master Archivist Juno Zeta, confirming a standard head count and that all are well in the former Sixth House. Camilla accepts it and supplies the next proof-of-life question, then tells We Suffer to report that Blood of Eden will have a Lyctor, or equivalent, if they wait. We Suffer closes by admitting the negotiator creates both danger and opportunity, asking Troia cell to help give Blood of Eden reasons to choose her path.