Nesryn wakes after a restless night in the Hall of Altun and joins Sartaq before dawn as he takes Kadara out to feed. After Kadara catches salmon, Sartaq shows Nesryn the training grounds where rukhin children learn to ride, explaining that the rukhin begin young and that he himself started later than most.

As they fly, Sartaq recounts the khaganate’s military history: the first khagan conquered through discipline, mobility, alliances with desert nomads, and strategic terror rather than constant open war. The discussion turns to Adarlan and Erawan’s long preparation beneath Rifthold. Nesryn, still withholding information about the Wyrdkeys, questions why Erawan needs such an army if he already controlled much of the northern continent.

Back at the aerie, Sartaq gives Nesryn a fuller tour of Rokhal, one of the three brother-peaks of the Dorgos. From the summit training rings, Nesryn sees Arundin, the Silent One, where the rukhin bury their dead and mark them with sulde. Sartaq admits he does not know whether he will someday be buried with the rukhin or in the steppes with his family.

At the archery range, Borte challenges Nesryn. Nesryn chooses a yew bow and, drawing on years of training after her mother’s death, fires nine arrows into three dummies with perfect precision despite the brutal wind. The display earns stunned respect from the riders, and Borte immediately asks Nesryn to teach her.

Nesryn spends hours demonstrating her methods while the rukhin show Nesryn their own mounted archery techniques. A messenger then announces that Sartaq’s hearth-mother, Houlun, has returned. On the way down, Sartaq explains that Borte’s mother is dead and that Borte’s training includes secret duties beyond combat, language, and history; he also compliments Nesryn’s skill and beauty.

In the great hall, Nesryn meets Houlun, a sharp and formidable hearth-mother, with Falkan already at Houlun’s side. Houlun refuses Sartaq’s request for privacy and announces that an ancient malice is stirring in the mountains. Ruk eggs and hatchlings have vanished, and Houlun reveals she was not hunting poachers but the kharankui, creatures Falkan identifies as stygian spiders.