Odessa recalls a past poisoning at thirteen as she endures three days of painful riding across Turah’s foothills with Tillia, Brielle, and Jocelyn. Exhausted and hungry, she broods over family, her uncertain future, and conflicting impressions of the Guardian. When riders ahead cheer, a ranger with long black braids races back—Halston—and he and Tillia share a fierce reunion kiss, stunning Odessa and stirring her grief over her loveless political marriage.

Tillia returns, radiant, and explains Halston is her husband and that the Guardian had told her Halston was coming. Relieved and ashamed of her prior assumptions, Odessa travels on as Halston sets a quicker pace through towering pines. Tillia teaches Odessa about Treow’s whistle signals and the settlement’s defenses against monsters, noting tarkin territory and occasional bariwolves or grizzurs.

The party reaches Treow, revealed as a village built in the trees with rope ladders and bridges, and lookouts who whistle to prevent friendly fire. Tillia points out the treehouse she shares with Halston and leads Odessa to a secluded, larger treehouse prepared for her, promising rest and urging her to eat. Odessa awkwardly climbs the rope ladder and discovers a comfortable room with a ready hot bath and meal.

Expecting Zavier, Odessa is instead visited by the Guardian, recently bathed and calm. He says Zavier has been detained and turns Odessa’s questions back on her, conducting a pointed interrogation: confirming she is from Roslo, twenty-three years old, and pressing on her eating, riding soreness, and whether her father sent her to spy. Odessa delivers a firm denial that the Guardian dismisses as a lie, observing her lack of a starburst in her eyes.

When Odessa asks about her stay and travel to Allesaria, the Guardian says she will go when Zavier can trust her, implying an indefinite delay. After trading barbs, he leaves; Odessa tries to secure the room but finds no lock. The Guardian unhooks the rope ladder and throws it to the ground, then drops twenty feet unharmed and walks off whistling, effectively trapping Odessa in the treehouse.