The chapter opens by revealing the chronology of events surrounding the threesome: Parisa had arrived at Tristan's London flat during the break, ostensibly to discuss the Forum's visit. Before any conversation, Tristan procured absinthe, and Parisa proposed they "make their own rules." Libby joined them later, and Tristan, fully conscious, recognized his deep craving for Libby Rhodes—a chemical, unwanted attraction he'd been suppressing. The morning after, Libby matter-of-factly told Tristan they didn't need to discuss what happened and asked what Parisa had wanted. Tristan, unable to tell Libby the full truth about the lethal elimination, resorted to framing it as the trolley problem. Libby firmly stated she would not kill anyone, said everyone always has a choice, and suggested Parisa would likely engineer a mutiny rather than comply. When Tristan specifically asked about killing Callum, Libby initially refused—but then said she needed to decide what to tell her boyfriend and left.

Over a month later, with no private contact between them, Libby abruptly approached Tristan in the reading room to discuss his abilities. She proposed he might be able to perceive things as small as electrons and alter them chemically, and further suggested his power might allow him to perceive or traverse time itself—since time is a dimension only he might see. Tristan was unsettled by the intellectual pivot, but their conversation shifted when Libby acknowledged that after the Callum-Parisa confrontation, there might be "some merit" to the trolley problem—not in killing a person, but in the idea that some specialties shouldn't exist. Callum interrupted them before Tristan could press further.

After Libby left, Callum sat with Tristan and shared a rare autobiographical confession: as a child, he could feel his mother's lovelessness toward him, likely because he was conceived under traumatic circumstances. He learned to manipulate her emotions to keep her alive and content, but her love for him is false—something he placed there. Callum touched Tristan's face and declared "I feel immensely," then departed, leaving Tristan quietly tormented by the intimacy and ambiguity of their relationship.

In the following weeks, Tristan began experimenting alone at the edge of the Society's wards, trying to perceive time by standing in multiple stages of it at once. One damp night he encountered a young man named Ezra, who appeared to exist on a different plane—standing in his own apartment while Tristan stood on the Society grounds. Ezra, surprised anyone could see him, identified himself as a "traveler" and mentioned he was wrestling with a decision he'd already begun. The two shook hands and parted. Tristan, elated at having done something unprecedented, considered telling Libby but stopped himself at her door at five in the morning. Instead, he knocked on Callum's door and, upon seeing Callum shirtless and sleep-rumpled, blurted "I see you"—meaning both literally and emotionally. Callum silently let him in.