In Leon’s Hall, Sciona attends the barrier-expansion presentation before the full High Magistry and sits beside Cleon Renthorn, who wrongly assumes Sciona was responsible for the assault that actually came from Thomil. Renthorn and Tanrel present a technically strong but conventional sourcing plan, and the archmages initially focus on their proposal. When Sciona is finally called, she introduces two new mapping methods, the Stravos-Kaedor and the Freynan Mirror, intending first to win the Council’s attention and then force them to confront what they have hidden.

Sciona demonstrates the Stravos-Kaedor spell first. Its unusually clear image impresses several archmages and proves that Sciona’s innovations could make barrier expansion more reliable. As the Council begins to praise the work and move on, Sciona stops them and activates her second spell, the Freynan Mirror, which shows the Kwen world in full color, including a living human settlement. The display shocks the chamber because it makes visible that Tiranish magic does not draw from an abstract Otherrealm but from real land, animals, and people.

Using the Freynan Mirror as evidence, Sciona openly accuses the Magistry Council of knowingly hiding that siphoning kills Kwen. The archmages respond with outrage, sexism, religious justification, and claims that Tiran’s prosperity makes the violence necessary. Orynhel calmly defends the deception as a burden borne by leaders for the city’s good, while Gamwen tries to persuade Sciona that the suffering is regrettable but acceptable. Sciona rejects these arguments, insisting that truth, faith, and human life cannot be reconciled with systematic murder and concealment.

Sciona then reveals that she has already acted. She tells the Council that Tiran will learn where its energy comes from, and when the clocks strike noon, the city’s master spellographs briefly go dark. A moment later, Freynan Mirrors blaze to life throughout Leon’s Hall and across Tiran’s public utilities, magnifying scenes of crops, animals, and blood being consumed for power. The visual evidence causes panic, screams, fainting, vomiting, and horror among the assembled mages and, by implication, among the wider city as the truth becomes impossible to ignore.

As the chamber descends into chaos, reactions split sharply: some recoil in disgust and fear, Bringham is horrified, and Renthorn the Younger delights in the display. Sciona defiantly frames the revelation as obedience to truth and to God rather than sacrilege. Orynhel finally asserts control by declaring Sciona under arrest, and armed guards seize her. As she is dragged from Leon’s Hall, Sciona insists that she has done the right thing, but Bringham turns away, leaving her to face the consequences alone.