With Protesilaus missing and Dulcinea critically ill after being left alone in the rain, the remaining Houses gather in the eating atrium. Teacher moves Dulcinea to the priest wing for care, while the others examine the ashes found in the incinerator. Ianthe and Palamedes determine the cremains are older than Protesilaus’s disappearance and likely belong to at least two people who died at the same time, meaning the incinerator does not explain Protesilaus’s current absence.

The discussion turns to who has keys and who may have motive. Silas returns from visiting Dulcinea and reveals that she surrendered her key ring to him, including the white key Harrow had given her. Judith Deuteros demands the keys for safekeeping, but Silas refuses and has Colum lock them together with the Eighth’s own keys, escalating mistrust among the Houses.

Judith decides that key hoarding must end and turns her authority against Palamedes, demanding the Sixth House’s keys. Palamedes refuses, so Marta Dyas challenges the Sixth to an immediate duel. Coronabeth tries to intervene and warns Palamedes that Judith is using harsh terms to make an example of the Sixth, but Palamedes accepts and chooses the atrium table as the dueling ground.

Camilla faces Marta on the table. Though Marta is a disciplined and capable soldier, Camilla attacks with overwhelming speed and aggression, disarms Marta’s offhand, suffers a wound to the forearm, then seizes Marta’s wrist, dislocates her arm, and pins her face-down until Judith calls mercy. The duel reveals that the supposedly weak Sixth House has a far more dangerous cavalier than others assumed.

After the match, Palamedes angrily condemns Judith for targeting the Sixth without understanding who holds which keys or how strong Camilla is. He argues that Judith’s challenge has turned the trials into a free-for-all, then forces the Second to surrender its facility key. As Camilla tends her wound, an unidentified voice immediately challenges the Sixth for their keys, proving Palamedes’s warning true.