Talasyn awakens in a cell alongside Alaric Ossinast, whose wolf mask has been removed by their captors, revealing his face for the first time—a young man in his twenties with sharp features and dark hair. They exchange barbs about who is responsible for their capture. Alaric hints that the Sardovian Allfold faces an imminent attack, urging Talasyn's alarm, and their argument escalates physically: Talasyn punches him across the jaw and demands the identity of the Sardovian traitor, but Alaric pins her to the cot, warning that it is already too late for Sardovia. Their confrontation is interrupted when Kaptan Rapat enters the cell.

Talasyn is taken first for interrogation, escorted by five soldiers and kept within range of opaque "sariman cages"—devices she suspects suppress aethermancy. Rapat explains that the Nenavarene discovered the Voidfell dimension, a necrotic magic unknown on the Northwest Continent, and that their muskets can be set to kill or stun. He also explains that the sariman cages were commissioned generations ago by the fourth Zahiya-lachis to control aethermancers; rather than submit to them, the Lightweavers, Shadowforged, and other aethermancers left Nenavar voluntarily to seek nexus points elsewhere.

Rapat questions Talasyn about her mission and identity, referencing the detailed map charted by General Bieshimma and noting the gravity of repeated Sardovian trespass. Talasyn provides her name and some truthful answers while withholding key details, such as her coracle's real location. She also reveals Alaric's identity, hoping it will concern Rapat, but it does not visibly faze him. When Rapat acknowledges awareness of the Hurricane Wars, he admits Nenavar once sent ships to help but they were destroyed by Kesath's stormship, and the Dominion maintains strict non-interference thereafter.

The interrogation takes a dramatic turn when Rapat asks about someone named "Hanan Ivralis." Talasyn has never heard the name. Rapat, visibly shaken upon learning Talasyn is nineteen, an orphan, and a Lightweaver, summons Prince Elagbi from the capital. When Elagbi arrives and sees Talasyn, he is stunned, calling her "Hanan" and declaring without hesitation that she is the spitting image of his late wife. Elagbi announces that Talasyn is his daughter, explaining that the Lightweave ability runs in the bloodline. The revelation that a Nenavarene prince believes Talasyn is his lost child reframes her entire identity and mission.