Two weeks after the khagan names Sartaq his Heir, Yrene stands at dawn on the deck of a large ship preparing to leave Antica. As sailors ready the vessel, Yrene looks over the waking city, the palace minarets, and the Torre Cesme, understanding that she is leaving a place that became home.

Before Yrene boards, Kashin finds Yrene at the docks. Chaol gives Kashin space, and Kashin tells Yrene he wishes he had never spoken as he did on the steppes because he misses Yrene's friendship. Yrene admits Yrene missed Kashin as a friend too, and both acknowledge the pain between them without bitterness.

Kashin thanks Yrene again for saving Duva, then speaks lightly of being free now that Sartaq bears the burden of being Heir. Yrene senses peace in Kashin and wonders whether Sartaq's new place in the succession may have come with private understandings among the siblings.

After Kashin leaves, Yrene remains at the rail as the ship finally departs. Yrene breathes in Antica one last time and watches the Torre Cesme shrink into the distance, seeing it as a beacon of hope while the ship carries Yrene, Chaol, and their allies across the Narrow Sea toward war.