Vis wakes badly wounded in a small hut, remembering the village attack, Cian's death, and the spear wound that nearly killed him. A woman from the village, Gráinne, is watching over him. Because they do not share a language, Vis learns only basic facts at first, but he realizes he has been carried away from the destroyed village and nursed through his injuries. When Gráinne asks his name, Vis chooses to call himself "Diago," deciding to let the world think he is dead and to accept the possibility of a life outside the Hierarchy.

Over the next days, Vis drifts in and out of sleep while Gráinne feeds him and tends his wound. He meets her children, Róisín and Tadhg, and her father, Onchú. Through gestures and slowly learned words, Vis discovers that he was unconscious for nearly a week, that Gráinne brought him to Onchú's farm herself, and that the warriors who chased him apparently left after finding another body with a missing arm and assuming Vis had died. That belief becomes the foundation of his safety, so Vis chooses to trust Gráinne's certainty.

As Gráinne changes his bandages, Vis notices that his wound is healing far faster than it should. He also slowly adjusts to life with one arm and begins walking with Cian's rowan staff. Once he is strong enough to stand, he insists on helping rather than continuing to take the family's bed and food without repayment. Gráinne outwardly agrees, but she mainly sets him to watching the children while she and Onchú work, revealing that the family has already accepted him more warmly than he expected.

Weeks pass in quiet labor and recovery. Vis spends his days with Róisín and Tadhg doing farm tasks, learning their language, and enjoying the simplicity of work that asks nothing of him beyond presence and effort. The pressure of his former life steadily falls away, and he stops bracing for pursuit. At mealtimes he observes the family's grief for Gráinne's dead husband and also their growing comfort with him. He asks about Cian's staff and learns that the family sees it as draoi, something uncanny and not to be touched, though they accept that Cian gave it to Vis.

Vis worries that he is becoming a burden, but Gráinne and then even the guarded Onchú tell him to stay, making the farm feel more like home than anywhere in Caten ever did. Time passes; Vis grows leaner, stronger, and more settled in his assumed identity as Deaglán. He finally works alongside Onchú in the fields, then goes with him into town, where he is introduced to the local farming community and shares a night of drinking and song. Just as Vis's refuge seems real and durable, the chapter ends with the arrival of a druid.