Raeve enters the elite club called the Hungry Hollow under the false identity of Kemori Daphidone, a traveling bard from Orig. She deliberately adopts a timid manner to pass as a harmless null, shows forged papers to the guard, and is admitted after being identified as a last-minute stand-in performer. Inside, Raeve moves through the cavernous hot-spring club while staying focused on her mission, even as a soul-feeding waif briefly targets her and forces her to change course.

As Raeve climbs toward the performance level, a large cloaked man nearly collides with her on a narrow staircase. When he appears ready to tear away her veil, Raeve instinctively catches his wrist, then forces herself back into her submissive disguise and retreats. The encounter unsettles her because the man soon returns to the club and watches her from a private booth, suggesting he has taken an interest in her that could interfere with her plans.

At the stage, Raeve meets Levvi, a pregnant null musician playing beside her. While Raeve searches the room, she spots her real target, Lord Tarik Relaken, whose predatory attention confirms that her disguise and appearance are working as intended. Levvi quietly warns Raeve that Tarik is dangerous and that performers who attract him often disappear, reinforcing the risk of the operation Raeve has fought to carry out.

A Runi brings Raeve an amplifying stick, and a parchment lark delivers a message that Raeve pockets for later. When Levvi asks whether she knows "Ballad of the Fallen Moon," the song stirs painful, half-buried memories in Raeve, but she agrees to perform it. Carrying a hidden dagger and the weight of her mission, Raeve begins to sing.

Raeve's performance captivates the entire room. Tarik watches her with the hungry interest she came to provoke, which means the trap is working. But the cloaked stranger also fixes on her with an even more powerful and dangerous presence, and Raeve realizes that her carefully planned lure has drawn not one monster but two.