Iris woke face-down in the trench after the explosion, disoriented and tasting blood and dirt. Hearing gunfire and seeing smoke, she checked herself for injuries, finding only scrapes and a cut, and then searched for Roman Kitt. She discovered Roman on his back, conscious but dazed, and confirmed he was breathing. Assessing him, Iris saw shrapnel embedded in Roman’s right thigh, calf, and around his knee, with steady bleeding.

Roman tried to speak about his bag, but Iris focused on getting him to safety. She attempted to help him stand and move, but he was too heavy and weak, and he urged her to take his bag and leave him. Refusing to abandon him, Iris insisted they try again. She flagged down a passing private, who helped shoulder Roman’s weight as they hurried through the trenches while enemy forces pressed in and gunfire crackled.

Near Station Fourteen, they encountered the captain who had first brought Iris and Roman to the front. The captain ordered Roman to be evacuated by stretcher and, short on hands, conscripted Iris to help carry the wounded with Private Stanley. Iris reassured Roman she would find him later, then left him to assist with rescue runs, ferrying multiple injured soldiers toward the evacuation point as gunfire began to diminish.

On a return trip deeper in the trenches, Iris stumbled upon Roman’s leather bag and slung it over her shoulder beside her own. Back at Station Fourteen, Captain Speer shouted for her to evacuate immediately. Iris boarded the last lorry and found herself beside Lieutenant Lark, who was gravely wounded and bleeding heavily. As the lorry rumbled east toward Avalon Bluff, Iris realized she had lost her mother’s golden locket in the blast.

To steady Lark, Iris recounted the myth of Enva outwitting Dacre beneath the earth, drawing on lore she had memorized. In response, Lark told Iris the origin of the Sycamore Platoon: childhood friends from a farming town who carved their initials into a lightning-struck sycamore tree as a prayer for protection and promise of return. He confessed he had never wanted leadership and now feared a lifetime of apologies to families he knew, because he was the last survivor of the platoon.

As night fell and the lorry continued, Iris held Lark’s hand. He affirmed relief that Roman had been evacuated earlier, and then, after enduring great pain, Lieutenant Lark died. Overcome by grief and smoke, Iris wept, carrying Roman’s bag and the memory of the fallen Sycamores.