At Lake Tiran, Thomil returns from scouting to find the remnants of the Caldonnae preparing for a desperate dash across the ice into the magically shielded city of Tiran. With winter, famine, and Blight destroying life on the Kwen, the tribe has no path left but this near-suicidal crossing. Thomil exchanges quiet reassurance and strained humor with his sister Maeva and her husband Arras, who carries their young daughter Carra, while Beyern and Elder Sertha order everyone to leave behind their weapons, keep moving, and turn back for no one.

When the tribe runs onto the lake, Blight attacks almost immediately. Thomil watches Drevan die first, then sees more Caldonnae torn apart in flashes of white light that strip flesh from bone and leave blood like flowers on the snow. The elders force the survivors onward, but the crossing becomes a massacre as Blight jumps from victim to victim. Thomil hardens himself against the screams and focuses on staying with Maeva and Arras, because keeping his family in sight is the only way he can continue.

Near the middle of the lake, Arras is struck in the back by Blight. Before he dies, Arras turns and shouts for Maeva to take Carra. Maeva manages to seize Carra, but Carra is grazed across the face and goes limp. Realizing Maeva cannot keep running while carrying her daughter and drowning in grief, Thomil takes Carra into his own arms and urges Maeva to concentrate on surviving the final stretch.

As the remaining runners approach Tiran, the ice begins to fail under the barrier's warmth. Beyern falls through first, and the cracking surface throws the last survivors into the freezing water. Maeva also goes under, and Thomil almost breaks with despair, but Maeva claws herself up long enough to scream at him to run. Understanding that Maeva has carried him to this moment so he can carry Carra, Thomil forces himself forward. While the drowning survivors are consumed by Blight, he sprints the last distance, crashes through thinning ice, and reaches the rocks and pavement inside Tiran's barrier.

Inside the city, Thomil confirms that Carra is still alive, though wounded, and collapses under the weight of grief and exhaustion. Two Tiranish guards find them and debate whether they are useful enough to keep, even suggesting throwing Carra away if she is dead or weak. When one guard tries to separate them, Thomil uses the few Tiranish words he knows and claims Carra as his daughter, knowing their laws will prevent them from being parted. Allowed to go together to the camp, Thomil silently vows that as long as Carra lives, the Caldonnae are not entirely gone.