At dawn in Treow, Odessa suffered an exhausting training session with the Guardian, who had awakened her harshly and fought her unarmed while she used knives. After she was winded and recovered, she realized he had vanished from the training area, leaving her alone. She returned to her treehouse—her rope ladder present during the day despite disappearing at night—and changed before heading toward the commons, musing about the Guardian’s control and her temporary home in Turah.

On the path, Odessa met Mariette, Treow’s stern caretaker, who addressed her formally as Princess Odessa Wolfe and disapproved when Odessa asked to be called simply Odessa. Cathlin, a warm, white-haired woman, intercepted and explained Mariette’s traditional views and introduced herself as Treow’s current librarian. Cathlin offered to open the library early and led Odessa to a tiny, skylit room stocked mainly with children’s materials and a few adult texts, noting the lack of schools in the wilds and her own time spent in Perris and Allesaria.

Browsing, Odessa collected books on Turah, monsters, other kingdoms, and a Quentis volume by Samuel Hay despite its hostile introduction. After checking out, she encountered her lady’s maid Brielle, who was temporarily lodged with Mariette while Jocelyn stayed elsewhere. Brielle brought Odessa breakfast and, after helping haul books via a pulley to the treehouse, explained her duties in the laundry. Odessa resolved to seek better accommodations for Brielle and greater authority over her maids.

Odessa spent the day reading, saving Samuel Hay’s book for last. By nightfall, the book’s accusations—that Quentis was corrupt and that the Gold King had orchestrated assassinations including his queen’s death—left Odessa furious and heartsick, given her certainty of her father’s love for her mother. After a cold bath to calm down, she fell asleep but was jolted awake by a nightmare of monsters killing Brielle and by real clawing sounds against her tree.

Stepping onto her balcony under the twin moons, Odessa saw a lionwick sharpening its claws on her tree. Her rope ladder was gone for the night, and she spotted the Guardian on the neighboring balcony with his sword. When she silently urged him to kill the beast, he refused, telling her to kill it herself and stating he was busy. He withdrew into his treehouse and closed the door, leaving the lionwick to prowl away. Odessa then heard him speaking to someone inside, which unsettled her even as she retreated to bed and tried to focus on the night sky rather than monsters, the book, or the man next door.