In Oath, Roman Kitt obsesses over Iris Winnow and the secret that he is her correspondent, Carver. He resolves that the truth must be told face-to-face. Mr. Kitt appears at the Gazette to order Roman to lunch with Elinor Little at Monahan’s and reminds him the wedding is in three weeks. Roman, inspired by Iris’s words about vulnerability, tries to work but remains unsettled.

In Avalon Bluff, Iris walks High Street with Marisol Torres when a lorry from the western road arrives at the infirmary bearing grievously wounded soldiers. Despite nausea and shock, Iris helps unload and carry a gut-shot soldier into overcrowded halls where a nurse grimly tells her the wound is fatal. Iris comforts the girl, fetches blankets, and stays with her before Marisol pulls her to gather mattresses and linens from the boardinghouse with Attie Attwood and Peter for makeshift beds.

Outside the infirmary, a threadbare captain argues with Dr. Morgan about the limited care possible; he insists on evacuating the wounded for dignity if not survival. Seeing Iris’s war correspondent badge, the captain offers one seat back to the front for a week. Iris and Attie flip a coin; Attie wins and departs.

Back in Oath, Roman meets Elinor at Monahan’s. Their multi-course meal is mostly silent until Roman challenges the purpose of their engagement. Elinor says it serves their families amid larger events and hushes him when he mentions Dacre. When Roman accuses her of making bombs shipped on his father’s railroad, she denies they are bombs and says he’ll learn what they are once married. Elinor proposes separate lives and rooms except for producing an heir, which Roman bleakly accepts, believing he deserves unhappiness.

Leaving the restaurant, Roman encounters a crowd at a newsstand and buys the Inkridden Tribune. He is riveted and proud when he sees Iris’s front-page piece, “The Unexpected Face of War,” and tucks the paper away, deciding he is ready to write his own story.

That night, Iris and Marisol labor at the infirmary—cooking, cleaning blood, washing linens, and preparing the dead, including the girl Iris aided. While tearing sheets into bandages, Iris asks about Marisol’s wife and learns Keegan enlisted seven months prior after Sparrow fell; letters are rare, and Marisol hides this from editor Helena Hammond to avoid jeopardizing the lodging arrangement. Iris admits she has no word from Forest Winnow.

Exhausted, Iris sleeps on the infirmary floor and later writes to Carver confessing fear and inadequacy in the face of war. Carver replies that Iris’s steady presence, compassion, and courage are true strength, urges her to keep writing, and affirms his admiration for her.