Raeve jolts awake from a terrifying dream, tries to steady herself, and realizes she has slept through the day. As she heads upstairs to check on Essi, she hears a noise, approaches cautiously with a blade, and finds Essi curled on the seater. The smell of blood and a handprint on the windowsill warn Raeve before she pulls back the blanket and discovers a stab wound in Essi's abdomen.

Raeve immediately tries to stop the bleeding and thinks of taking Essi to Sereme for fleshthread mending, but Essi is already fading too quickly. Essi begs not to be left in the snow or buried in the cold and asks instead to be fed to the fire. While Raeve holds her, Essi explains that she was stabbed after going to the Undercity, that the attacker was hooded, smelled of leather and smoke sticks, and had clattering boots. Raeve finally tells Essi that she loves her, and Essi says she came home because she did not want Raeve to think she had abandoned her.

Raeve keeps Essi in her arms as Essi's heartbeat weakens and then stops. After sitting with her body for a long time, Raeve strips her grief down to one guiding purpose: vengeance. She gently lays Essi down, promises to find whoever did this, arms herself with blades, and writes a message on Nee before activating the final fold that sends the parchment creature back to her sender. Nee leaves stripped of the personality that had made her feel alive, deepening Raeve's sense of loss.

Remembering Essi's request not to be left to the cold, Raeve prepares to burn the house with Essi inside. She soaks rags, the rug, and Essi's blanket with spirits, says goodbye, climbs into the wind tunnel above the chute, and forces herself to drop a flaming cloth down despite her horror at burning Essi's body. The house ignites below her, and she staggers in the smoke and heat while Essi's jars begin to burst in the fire.

Near the chute, Raeve finds Essi's satchel and the bloody dagger Essi must have pulled from her own body. On the blade, Essi's blood shifts into written words: a summons for Raeve from Rekk Zharos. Raeve realizes Essi was used to lure her out, blames herself for Essi's death, and collapses under the weight of grief and guilt. As that realization breaks her, a violent inner cold surges through her body, slowing her heart and dragging her into a frozen, almost welcome numbness while her desire to destroy Rekk Zharos hardens.