Mariam wakes in the night after sleeping poorly through a thunderstorm. Illness has made sleep difficult for her, and the storm that once delighted her now only worsens her discomfort and interrupts her rest.

As Mariam adjusts to the darkness, she realizes the sound in her room is Lin. Moonlight reveals Lin standing just inside the doorway, soaked from the rain, her dress and hair drenched. Mariam expected Lin to return from the Solstice Ball full of excitement, but Lin instead looks close to breaking.

Mariam immediately offers comfort rather than questions. Lin crawls into bed beside her, cold and wet, and Mariam holds her as she once did when Lin was a lonely orphaned child rejected by her grandfather.

Mariam quietly asks whether Conor hurt Lin, but Lin says he did not. Instead, Lin calls herself a fool. Mariam soothes Lin with tender words, holding her while the rain continues outside.