At the top of the Torre Cesme, Yrene Towers meets with Hafiza, the Healer on High. Yrene reflects on the safety, purpose, and training she has found in Antica after years of hardship, and she demonstrates her practical skill by suggesting a way to help Hafiza’s tonic purify faster in cooler conditions with focused sunlight.

Hafiza raises Yrene’s future, saying Eretia believes Yrene is ready to leave. Yrene confirms that she wants to return to the northern continent because war is coming and Fenharrow, her homeland, may finally have a chance at freedom from Adarlan. Though Hafiza offers her the possibility of staying and continuing toward an even greater role in the Torre, Yrene remains drawn north by grief, duty, and memories of Adarlanian soldiers murdering her mother.

Hafiza warns that Prince Kashin, who remains fond of Yrene after their former friendship and his rejected romantic hopes, may not easily accept Yrene’s departure. Hafiza then gives Yrene a task before any final decision: a special guest of the khagan needs treatment for a spinal injury that has left him paralyzed from the hips downward. Because Yrene has successfully healed a similar injury before, Hafiza asks her to treat Lord Chaol Westfall, former Captain of the Guard and current Hand to the King of Adarlan.

Yrene immediately refuses because Chaol served the kingdom responsible for her mother’s death and Fenharrow’s suffering. Hafiza challenges Yrene with the healer’s oath and recounts a time she healed a monstrous criminal so justice, rather than her own vengeance, could decide his fate. Hafiza tells Yrene that hatred is a soul-wound and frames this assignment as Yrene’s final personal test before she goes to war.

Yrene remembers the scarred stranger in Innish who gave her the gold, brooch, and note that made her journey to the Torre possible, reminding Yrene that the world needs healers. Unwilling to repay that kindness by refusing outright, Yrene compromises: she will meet Chaol and assess him before deciding whether to heal him. Hafiza accepts, and Yrene learns she must go to Chaol’s chambers the next day.