Chapter 64

In the treehut, Raeve steadies herself by reshaping an earring hook, then secures it around Borg’s jar. Seeking answers, she refuses to offer her worst memory but bribes Borg with three beads taken from her father, Pah. Moved, Borg allows Raeve to choose a lesser memory; she offers revenge.

Borg begins feeding, pulling Raeve into the memory of a battlefield at Dhomm. Rygun has just killed Grohn, the opposing Sabersythe. Raeve descends, driven by fury toward Pah, who lies burned and paralyzed, failing to shape Bulder’s stone into lethal spears.

Raeve drags Pah into the sun, confronts his legacy of abuse, and declares her intent to purge his hierarchy of beads and build a just Burn. She rips his beads free, rejects his taunts, and prevents any last leverage by cutting out his tongue.

Committed to making him feel each moment, Raeve uses a blunted handsaw to behead Pah. As the killing ends, she feels no solace, only clarity. She takes his melted crown but does not don it, thinking of Elluin and the better world her memory demands.

Before leaving, Raeve shapes a clay mug with Bulder’s aid, places it in Pah’s lap as a pointed echo of their past, then departs with the crown and head. She climbs onto Rygun, ready to move on as Borg’s feeding and the memory end.