Raeve is driven through tunnels into a vast crater that she realizes was formed by the fallen Sabersythe moon, Orvah. The crater is set up like a battle ring, ringed with tents, weapons, iron-laced sand, and fae skulls, which makes Raeve fear that her Tookah Trial will require combat. Instead, Saiza pauses at a ceremonial tent and asks Raeve to honor Orvah, whose intact body was rolled to the crater’s side after the moonfall.

Inside the tent, Raeve finds Orvah’s preserved body and is shaken by the sight of an adolescent dragon, still bearing the remains of a saddle. The moment reminds Raeve of how dragons die in war and how their bodies are exploited afterward. She leaves a flower in respect, senses a mournful presence urging her not to look too long, and returns outside believing she is only there to observe.

Once seated on a raised dais, Raeve is given the málmr tokens of two bloodied warriors, Hock and Zaran. Saiza explains that this exchange is part of the trial, and Raeve then watches as the two men arm themselves and enter the ring. When Raeve asks what the fight has to do with her, Saiza reveals that this is the Tookah Trial: the men are fighting for the honor of being bound to Raeve and fathering children with the prophesied Kholu.

The revelation horrifies Raeve just as the fight turns fatal. Hock kills Zaran by cutting through his neck, then lifts the severed head in triumph while the crowd celebrates. Saiza calmly tells Raeve that Hock is now her victor and that, after the festivities, he will take her to his tent so they can begin building a family, framing the union as a sacred duty tied to the Johkull Clan’s future.

Hock brings Zaran’s severed head to Raeve’s dais, kneels, and tries to place his málmr around her neck. Raeve snaps, rejects him, breaks his nose with a headbutt when he grabs her, and jumps back to declare that she will fight for herself. Her defiance shocks the crowd, forces Saiza to translate, and prompts Hock to seek judgment from the Oah.

Raeve holds her ground, insisting she does not choose this fate and rejecting both forced mating and the role the Fate Herder has led her into. The Oah-ee, who secretly understands Raeve’s language, questions her choice, then advises the Oah. At last, the rulers agree not to stop Raeve from entering the ring, but only if the Fate Herder does not intervene, turning the trial into a direct test of Raeve’s autonomy.