Kel brings Conor to the Caravel at night because Conor has been withdrawn, injured or in pain, and tormented by nightmares since the banquet. Kel hopes the familiar excess of Falconet's celebration will distract Conor. At the party, Conor hides unease behind jokes about grotesque Malgasi portraits sent for his wedding, then settles into a Castles game with Montfaucon.

Alys tells Kel that Silla wants him upstairs, but the woman waiting in the Ochre Room is Antonetta Alleyne. Antonetta explains that Artal Gremont insists on the ceremony of First Night and will make it cruel; because she refuses to break the engagement, she asks Kel to make sure Artal is not her first experience. Kel urges her to tell him why she must marry Artal, but Antonetta will not reveal the reason.

Kel nearly leaves, then returns when Antonetta says she could ask someone else. Kel and Antonetta kiss and touch each other, and Kel gives Antonetta the pleasure she asked for, but when Antonetta tries to continue, Kel stops. Kel explains that Artal may have her examined to confirm her virginity, so Kel cannot safely become her First Night. Hadja interrupts to say Conor is looking for Kel, and Antonetta sends Kel away, hurt but composed.

On the stairs, Kel overhears Artal arguing with Falconet about an unspecified problem involving Liorada, Antonetta's mother. Audeta draws Artal away before he can say more. Falconet then tells Kel that Conor only wanted him for the Castles game, leaving Kel shaken by what happened with Antonetta and by what he still cannot offer her.

Later, Lin returns to the Sault after a frustrating medical visit to a poor seamstress whose failing eyesight Lin cannot truly cure. Lin finds Aron Benjudah in the Shulamat gardens answering children's questions. When a child asks whether the Ashkar in Castellane could suffer as the Ashkar did in Malgasi, Aron turns the question to Lin, and Lin reassures them by pointing to Mayesh's role at court and the King's need to preserve his reputation.

After the children leave, Lin and Aron discuss the insecurity of Ashkar life and the Exilarch's duty to help the Goddess if she passes the test. Lin asks Aron to translate Fausten's Rhadanite-coded notes, pretending they came from her parents, but Aron immediately detects the lie. He agrees to translate them only if Lin allows him to accompany her on her physician's rounds, leaving Lin aware that she is now constrained by both the Prince and the Exilarch.