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Zeal quickly assembles a four-person field team, and Rebeke takes the controls as they lift off from the crippled Beacon. The crew’s rough humor contrasts with Beacon’s formality, and Hardy jokes about entering the maelstrom. Nomad asserts he will be the one to go outside for the harvest, earning the team’s acceptance.

In the cab, Rebeke thanks Nomad for bringing her, confessing that others treat her as a symbol rather than a leader. She asks to be taught to kill. Nomad distinguishes fighting skill from the moral cost of killing and warns her of leadership’s burdens, sharing that command once ill-suited him. Rain and cloud shadow deepen as they fly.

Nomad notes Elegy’s slight improvement and discusses a tiny shard of Rebeke’s mother’s sunheart. He realizes the sunhearts won’t accept his power because he lacks deep local Connection; he can feed on Investiture but cannot return it. Frustrated by the lost hope of easing his Torment, he joins the crew in back, observing their resilience.

Elegy, chained, grapples with being remembered by others but not remembering herself. Nomad urges her to trust the legacy of the person she once was rather than the murderous voice that had guided her. He gives her the sunheart shard and a phrase to shed a trace of her soul—discarding the less “her” parts—to help keep her mind clear.

Nomad unlocks one of Elegy’s manacles, granting limited freedom while maintaining caution. Returning to the cab at a rumble of thunder, he and the crew behold their destination: the maelstrom ahead, wreathed in fire. The team braces to begin the hazardous sunheart harvest.