Gideon and Harrowhark sit with the other House delegates in Canaan House’s vast, decaying atrium, where beauty and ruin coexist. Skeleton servants bring tea, and Gideon observes the other cavaliers and necromancers, including obedient Protesilaus and sickly Dulcinea, while the three priests preside from the fountain.

The gathering begins with a prayer to the Emperor, which most delegates know but Gideon and Harrowhark do not. Teacher then asks the Ninth House to offer its own intercession, and Harrowhark calmly recites the grim prayer of the Locked Tomb. The reaction confirms to Gideon that the Ninth’s religion is distinct and unsettling to the other Houses, though the priests seem pleased by its continuity.

Teacher welcomes everyone to Canaan House and has a skeleton bring a wooden box. One by one, the cavaliers are called forward and given dull iron rings. Gideon receives one and notes its simple locking mechanism, while Harrowhark clearly wants to examine it.

The priests explain the purpose of the gathering: the original Lyctors were once eight necromancers and eight cavaliers who ascended at Canaan House, but over ten thousand years some have died, leaving the Emperor in need of replacements. The candidates may attempt the dangerous process of becoming Lyctors, but failure by either necromancer or cavalier means failure for both, and they will not be forced to continue if found wanting.

Teacher then gives the practical rules: the candidates will live in isolation at Canaan House without communication, visits, or letters, using its rooms and books until they succeed or are sent home. When everyone expects instruction, Teacher gives only one rule: do not open locked doors without permission. Asked how they are supposed to learn Lyctorhood, Teacher admits he does not know, leaving the candidates shocked and angry.

Afterward, a skeleton leads Gideon and Harrowhark to the Ninth House quarters. They barely speak except when Harrowhark explains that the sudden darkness is night on a faster-spinning planet. Gideon refuses the servant-like bed placed at Harrowhark’s feet and sleeps in the next room by a window, where she watches the shuttles being dropped silently from the landing platform into the sea before falling asleep.