Vis spends an early summer day working Onchú’s fields with Gráinne, still recovering from the previous night’s drinking and continuing to live under the false name Deaglán. As they work, Gráinne again wonders about his origins, and Vis chooses not to explain Caten or the Republic because the truth would sound impossible and could endanger his safety. Their conversation instead turns to the political order of the Free Lands, where small fiefdoms answer to regional kings and, above them, the ailing High King Úrthuile; Gráinne speaks admiringly of King Rónán of Caer Áras.

On the way back to the hut, Onchú spots three huge wolves watching from a distant copse. Gráinne calls them mactirmor, and Onchú treats their appearance as a supernatural omen rather than a hunting threat. That evening the family performs a sacrifice at the river mouth to appease the gods, and although Vis remains skeptical, he is also unsettled because he has seen alupi before only on Solivagus and knows how dangerous they can be.

During the night, Vis wakes with a strong sense that something is wrong. Outside, he realizes he can feel a second pulse in his head, distinct from the faint sensation that seems to come from Cian’s staff. Three strangers emerge from the woods: two armed warriors and an older druid in white carrying a carved staff. When they advance without answering his challenge, Vis calls for Gráinne and Onchú, attacks first to draw the intruders away from the house, and briefly holds them off. He is quickly overwhelmed, beaten to the ground, and hears the druid accuse him before noticing the man’s eyes turn black just before he is knocked unconscious.

Vis wakes inside the hut under guard. The druid identifies himself as Lir and accuses Vis of stealing Cian’s staff, demanding a confession and threatening a swift death. Because Vis cannot explain well in the local language, Gráinne tells the story for him, describing the massacre of the village and Cian’s murder while carefully concealing Vis’s true connection to Cian and inventing details that make Vis seem like an outsider who later defended her family. Lir is shaken to learn that a draoi was killed, but he remains suspicious and questions Vis about his origins and about symptoms such as headaches or voices, which Vis denies having.

When one of the warriors argues that Vis deserves death, Lir overrules him and decides to bring Vis to the grove representative at Caer Áras for consultation instead. Vis accepts because he has no real choice. Before dawn he says goodbye to Gráinne, Onchú, Róisín, and Tadhg, who reassure him that he brought them no trouble and urge him to seek protection by finding a way to serve King Rónán. Their farewell confirms how much Vis has come to value this brief life of safety and belonging, but Lir quickly leads him away on what will be a two- to three-week journey toward judgment.