Leaving work after Roman Kitt declined her suggestion to get a sandwich, Iris stopped at a corner grocer and realized it was an enchanted shop that highlighted only the food she could afford. Embarrassed by her limited means, she bought bread and boiled eggs and learned from the grocer that supplies were being shipped west to the front, including for his daughter who fought for Enva. He criticized Chancellor Verlice for refusing to declare war on Dacre, remarks that Iris recognized as bold in divided Oath.

Outside in the rain, Iris slipped on a newspaper and discovered it was the Inkridden Tribune, the Gazette’s main rival. The front page featured a headline about monsters sighted near the war front and an illustration of a winged, taloned creature. Disturbed, Iris wondered if such monsters explained the missing soldiers, folded the soggy paper, and kept it.

After a long walk through Oath’s winding, ancient streets, Iris reached her flat, where her mother Aster, drunk and smoking, lay amid empty bottles with the electricity still out. Iris discovered Aster had sold their grandmother’s radio, claiming it barely worked. Overwhelmed, Iris briefly cleaned, then retreated to her room to make a simple meal and lay out the damp Tribune, the monster image smudged.

Seeking solace, Iris pulled out her late grandmother’s typewriter—engraved “THE THIRD ALOUETTE / MADE ESPECIALLY FOR D.E.W.” (Daisy Elizabeth Winnow)—and began to write, not her assignment, but an unsparing letter to Forest. She poured out anger and love, fear that he was dead or missing, resentment that he left, and a plea for him to abandon the war and return. She folded the letter and slid it under the wardrobe door, the secret place that had been making her letters to Forest vanish since shortly after he left.

Iris reflected on how the wardrobe, a small arched recess in the stone wall they share, had seemed to transport her previous letters, perhaps by ancient magic in the city’s foundations. The act eased her chest, and she put away the typewriter, left a candle burning, and nearly fell asleep.

Then paper rustled. A sheet appeared on the floor by the wardrobe, folded differently from her own. Iris picked it up, saw typed words in the firelight, and realized with shock the letter was not from Forest.