Iris awoke in a forest at late afternoon with a severe headache, disoriented and hoarse. Forest, her brother, offered water and admitted he had pulled her from the battlefield amid the gas attack; Iris demanded to return for Roman Kitt Bell (Kitt), her husband. Discovering two stolen dash-packs and realizing Forest had taken Roman’s jumpsuit earlier, Iris felt betrayed. Forest proposed a deal: they would search the field but not enter the captured town, then she would follow him to safety.

At evening they crawled through the grass toward Avalon Bluff, now under Dacre’s control and in celebration, his white flag with the red eithral eye flying. At the trampled spot where Iris had fought Forest, they found Kitt’s blood and a ring drawn in the dirt but no sign of him. With distant gunfire and laughter from the town, Forest insisted they withdraw, and Iris, crushed by the absence, retreated to the woods with him.

They camped deep in the forest as Forest stayed guarded and refused to discuss Kitt’s whereabouts in detail, only insisting Kitt was not in Avalon Bluff. Iris grieved openly by the fire, feeling Forest like a stranger. Over days of eastward travel off-road, Forest remained paranoid and avoided the roads despite Iris’s pleas to seek Attie and Marisol. When blood seeped through his borrowed jumpsuit, Iris tended to him and noticed her mother’s locket at his throat—the locket Iris had lost in the trenches—realizing Forest had been there and drawing the conclusion that he had fought for Dacre.

Confronted, Forest evaded at first, then later admitted he had found the locket while advancing with Dacre’s forces. He explained that after being mortally wounded at Lucia River and left in Meriah’s infirmary, Dacre healed him before death and bound him by a life-debt to fight for Dacre. Forest eventually deserted, went to Avalon Bluff’s outskirts, and watched Iris, planning to extract her when Dacre attacked. He apologized for failing to save Kitt and begged Iris to stay with him where it was safe. Iris, though heartsick, promised not to leave him immediately.

They boarded a train after Forest washed his bloodied jumpsuit, and Iris silently noted scars on his chest—placements suggesting fatal wounds—deepening her horror at what Dacre had done. Iris composed unmailed thoughts to Kitt in her mind, confessing love and regrets, while clinging to hope that he lived.

In Oath, amid normal city bustle and rain, Iris told Forest that their mother had died weeks earlier, which had driven Iris to leave and become a correspondent. Forest embraced her, and they returned to their dusty flat. By candlelight, Forest described deserting after finding the locket and his vigil near Avalon Bluff, reiterating his plea that Iris remain with him. Iris agreed for now, then withdrew to her bedroom to rest and plan how to find Kitt.

Surveying her old room, Iris found an old, previously unread letter on the floor—the one she had feared months ago would sway her course. She finally opened it, and it began, “Iris! Iris, it’s me, Kitt,” striking her like a blade and rekindling the connection to him.