Odessa woke in her cramped cabin on the Cutter after a night caring for her seasick maids, Brielle and Jocelyn. She found that someone had unlocked her door while she slept and delivered Turan clothing, including boots and trousers. Refusing to yield her sense of self, Odessa donned a gray dress, put on her comforting pendant, and resolved not to wear pants. She stepped onto the freshly swabbed deck, taking in the three-ship formation with the Cannon and the Cleaver alongside, and savored a fleeting sense of adventure despite her circumstances.

The Guardian approached and needled Odessa, admitting—by implication—that he had entered her locked room to leave clothes. After taunting and being taunted in return, he abruptly vaulted overboard and moments later surfaced climbing the Cleaver’s hull, an impossible feat at their speed that confirmed his inhuman abilities. Prince Zavier joined Odessa, pointed out the Guardian’s landing, and greeted her calmly.

Odessa and Zavier moved to speak privately. Zavier asked after her rest and her stomach, warning that the Krisenth Crossing was harsh and that her maids’ seasickness could worsen. He explained the voyage to Turah would take eight to nine days with provisions for two weeks. When Odessa asked about their fleet, Zavier disclosed they had departed Turah with six ships but had already lost three—some to marroweels and one to a storm—underscoring the peril.

On danger at sea, Zavier cautioned that monsters made safety an illusion. He said the High Priest believed female marroweels were using the Krisenth to lay eggs; killing seven would likely reduce attacks, and the ships were armed with harpoons and spears. He added they had baited the marroweels, acknowledging the intentional confrontation that enabled his bride prize claim.

Odessa pressed Zavier on why he had chosen her to marry, but he did not answer, maintaining his taciturn stance. He warned that Turah was rugged, vast, and very different from Quentis, and noted that Quentis had not sent a Sparrow to Turah in three hundred years. He cited a precedent: the last Sparrow from Laine came over a century ago, bore a daughter (Zavier’s grandmother’s grandmother), then returned to Laine at the cost of leaving her child behind—an expectation-setting lesson about Turah’s harsh realities.

When Odessa asked why he had trusted her with his secret of speaking, Zavier said, “Turans are loyal to Turans,” implying his speech before her was a loyalty test now that she was bound as Turan. Odessa recognized the line he drew: he would not speak before Quentin servants, but would before her. She silently decided to keep his secret for now.

Odessa continued to seek clarity, asking again why he chose her and whether he desired her. Zavier only offered that she was beautiful and then walked away, leaving Odessa flustered and no closer to understanding his motives or intentions for their marriage.