Prince Elagbi reveals to Talasyn that she is his daughter, Alunsina Ivralis, granddaughter of Queen Urduja and rightful heir—the Lachis'ka—to the Dragon Throne of Nenavar. Talasyn recoils, overwhelmed and angry. She had dreamed of a joyous reunion her whole life, but instead she is in restraints and deeply confused. She accuses Elagbi of having abandoned her, unable to accept that royalty would have sent her away unless they didn't want her.

Elagbi asks Rapat to remove her restraints and then explains what happened. When Talasyn was a year old, a civil war erupted in Nenavar: Elagbi's older brother, Sintan, led a rebellion aimed at overthrowing Queen Urduja. Because only women may sit on the Dragon Throne, Sintan would have killed the infant Lachis'ka. Talasyn was evacuated on an airship bound for the Dawn Isles—her mother Hanan's homeland—accompanied by a nursemaid and two Royal Guards, but the ship went dark and Talasyn was never found. Elagbi killed Sintan himself and the rebellion was crushed, but by then Talasyn had vanished. He also tells her that her mother, Hanan, died of a sudden fever shortly before the evacuation.

Before Talasyn can ask more about the civil war's origins, the Lachis-dalo—female Royal Guards—burst in with urgent news: Alaric Ossinast has escaped his sariman cage and recovered use of the Shadowgate. Talasyn grabs her map and compass and sprints through the garrison. As her own Lightweave returns outside the cage's suppression range, she blasts past soldiers trying to stop her and reaches the landing grid, where Alaric has already downed numerous guards with his shadow scythe—injuring but not killing them, showing unusual restraint.

Before Talasyn can engage Alaric, a Nenavarene soldier fires a blast of Voidfell magic at both of them. Unable to dodge, Alaric raises a shadow shield while Talasyn throws a light dagger. The dagger grazes the shield, and their two magics merge into a translucent sphere of combined Shadowgate and Lightweave—black and gold—that deflects the Voidfell harmlessly. Every blade of grass touched by the deflected void magic withers and dies, underscoring its necrotic nature. The mysterious merged barrier vanishes as quickly as it formed, leaving the Nenavarene soldiers and Elagbi stunned.

Alaric seizes the moment to commandeer a coracle and takes off. Talasyn jumps into another coracle and pursues him over the jungle canopy, determined to either stop him or race back to the Continent to warn Sardovia of the impending Night Empire assault.