Lin dreams of a burned, blackened landscape veined with fire. Across a river of flame, King Markus appears younger and more aware than Lin has ever known him, wearing black, red, and a gold coronet.

Markus tells Lin that she has “opened the way” and that he knows about the Goddess test she will soon face. He explains that Lin’s Stone thirsts for power, but without the Word, Lin cannot fill it through ordinary study or book-learning. When Lin concludes that real magic is impossible for her, Markus says the power in his blood contains the Word because of what he gained at the Court of Malgasi.

Markus offers Lin a gift in repayment for her care: he commands her to come to his tower and take his blood to fill her Stone. Lin distrusts the offer and insists she only treated Markus as a patient, but Markus reaches across the river of fire and grips Lin’s wrist. Pain shoots through Lin’s hand and arm.

Lin wakes screaming, finds no mark on her skin, and notices that the pain fades when Lin takes up the silver brooch containing her Stone. Inside the Stone, Lin sees a tiny burning spark. Testing it, Lin commands the dead kitchen hearth to burn, and flames leap to life. The spark immediately vanishes from the Stone, leaving it cool and lifeless again.