Violet faces six massive irid dragons who, contrary to dragon norms, directly address her and Ridoc. Andarna mediates, and the irids respectfully give Violet space. The irids speak through a shared mental language, chiding Ridoc for rudeness and questioning Violet’s raised blade. They confirm Andarna is irid and note her usual black coloration, then identify her as “the criterion,” startling the group.

Tairn arrives protectively, with Aotrom joining, and both position themselves between the humans and the irids. The irids insist they only wish to speak with Andarna, not the humans. When the irids notice Andarna’s scorpiontail, they react with alarm; all of them are feathertails. They press Andarna to explain her choice of tail and lie down to hear her story, prompting Tairn and Aotrom to mirror the posture while Violet and Ridoc sit between Tairn’s foreclaws.

Andarna narrates her life from hatching through Presentation, Threshing, and bonding customs in Navarre, which shocks the irids who do not live with or bond to humans. She recounts defending Violet, the attack in Violet’s bedchamber where she used her juvenile gift to slow time, and events through War Games, Resson, and battles alongside Violet, including Violet channeling irid power and Andarna’s subsequent Dreamless Sleep. Throughout, the irids react with disapproval at juvenile bonding, use of magic for war, and human-dragon entanglement.

Andarna asks for help: for the irids to return to fight, to share knowledge about defeating venin, to cure the corrupted, and to tell her about her family. The central male irid sharply questions Violet for allowing Andarna to channel and to enter war as a juvenile. When the right female requests to see Andarna’s wings, Andarna displays a trembling, weakened wing and explains missing musculature and her current limitations; the irids exchange looks and withdraw into a private mental conference.

Three irids launch away while three return to address the group. Andarna, hopeful, asks if she has passed a test to visit their den. The remaining irids inform her the test was for Violet, who has failed. They declare that Violet used a vulnerable child as a weapon and forced premature growth, calling Andarna a weapon rather than broken, and stating their breed was born for peace.

The central male explains that Andarna had been left as “the criterion,” a measure of whether humans would evolve toward tranquility under wardstones and cease weaponizing magic. Andarna’s story convinces them the opposite occurred: humans still weaponize magic, and dragons abet it. He further criticizes Aotrom for gifting ice and Tairn for arming a human with lightning, before accusing Andarna of giving Violet something even more dangerous to wield. The chapter closes with an excerpted letter from General Augustine Melgren to Queen Maraya about reallocating dragons and weaponry, underscoring the ongoing militarization.