Saeris arrives in Cahlish expecting a war camp but finds a bright, stately ancestral estate filled with portraits resembling Kingfisher. Kingfisher tersely explains it was his home until Belikon commanded Kingfisher’s mother to the Winter Palace, and Saeris realizes what he was forced to leave behind.

On the stairs they meet Archer, a small fire sprite carrying tea, who panics and drops the tray because he can hardly believe Kingfisher is really there. Kingfisher kneels to clean up, comforts Archer, and briefly reveals a complex black rune at the base of his skull before it vanishes. Archer clings to Kingfisher, crying with joy, and Kingfisher uses smoke-magic to restore his shirt and repair the broken tea set, then sends Archer away, promising to catch up before dinner.

As they continue, Saeris presses Kingfisher about Archer and about Saeris’s desire to return to Zilvaren to help people resisting Madra. Kingfisher mocks Saeris’s “awful city” and questions why Saeris feels responsible for people who have given up; Saeris insists it is simply the right thing to do. Kingfisher ends the exchange by ushering Saeris into the forge.

The forge is enormous and opens onto a snowy walled garden with a mountain view; Saeris notices the space makes no architectural sense. Kingfisher explains the doorway is enchanted to transport them to an external forge for safety, and admits the work is Ren’s, not his. He also clarifies why they had to use a shadow gate to travel hundreds of leagues without alerting Belikon, and that shadow gates only function within this realm, while quicksilver can reach other realms.

Kingfisher then reveals the real scale of Saeris’s obligation: trunks filled with family rings belonging to his warriors. Because relics are strongest when forged from something meaningful, Saeris must melt each ring, transmute it into a quicksilver-shielding relic, and cast it into a simple medallion, incorporating stones or engravings. Saeris realizes her bargain’s loophole—Kingfisher has fifteen thousand warriors—so “enough relics” means fifteen thousand, and Kingfisher coldly tells her to start.