On a warm afternoon, Zavier and Odessa take their now-habitual walk through Treow. Evangeline follows them, gets caught, and is allowed to join on the condition she returns to lessons afterward. Evangeline shows shyness toward Odessa and almost calls Zavier “Papa,” asking if she can go with him when he leaves, which prompts Odessa to learn he will be leaving again.

Zavier senses something in the forest and halts, then relaxes moments before the Guardian arrives with a grave demeanor. Zavier and the Guardian step aside to speak privately, excluding Odessa. Evangeline whispers to Odessa that the Guardian fights monsters, “the sick ones,” implying a new and troubling category beyond known threats like grizzurs and lionwicks. Luella, Evangeline’s tutor, arrives to collect the child, and Zavier cuts the walk short due to urgent business.

Reading the Guardian’s seriousness as a sign that something is wrong, Odessa parts from Luella and Evangeline and seeks Brielle. Odessa discreetly asks Brielle about “sick monsters,” but Brielle has no specifics. Instead, Brielle reports overhearing that several men have gone missing from Treow; Jocelyn heard the king’s militia is recruiting and that a pony rider quit to enlist, possibly explaining the disappearances.

Odessa considers whether King Ramsey is expanding his militia for the crux migration or for war, and wonders if her father’s assumptions about entering Allesaria were wrong or reactive to Ramsey’s actions. She notes a pattern of Turans avoiding any discussion of Allesaria; Brielle confirms that even mentioning the city leads to Turans shutting down conversation.

As Odessa entertains a radical doubt—whether Allesaria might not exist—she rejects it as impossible given widespread knowledge, yet remains unsettled by the secrecy. She realizes Treow has effectively trapped her and that Zavier intends to move her to Ellder rather than to the capital, thwarting her mission to help her people.

Frustrated by evasion regarding the “sick” monsters, the burned books, the militia build-up, and the hidden capital, Odessa decides to change tactics. She resolves to stop waiting for Turans to volunteer information, to act like a spy, and to find a way out of Treow to continue her search for Allesaria.