Leaving The Curly Quill upset by her exchange with Sereme, Raeve hurries through the crowded Ditch toward home. Her path is interrupted when an adult Moltenmaw sweeps low over the city and breathes fire above the streets, sending people scrambling. When the feeding bell sounds, more Moltenmaws descend on the coliseum, making it clear that the Crown is staging another execution by dragon.

As the victim screams, Raeve's anger surges because she knows the person being fed to the beasts is almost certainly not a true monster. She thinks of the kinds of people the Crown sacrifices: gifted people hiding as nulls, dissidents, and parents trying to protect their children from the kingdom's brutal screening and bloodstone extraction. When one victorious Moltenmaw flies west with blood on its mouth, Raeve realizes the victim will likely be carried to Bhoggith and fed alive to dragon young.

The spectacle deepens Raeve's hatred for the Fade King, Cadok, and for the kingdom he has turned into a place of fear and militarized cruelty. She reflects that Gore was once said to be beautiful and vibrant, but Cadok's rule has hollowed it out. Raeve briefly imagines going after him herself, yet she knows killing him is impossible without serious help while he is protected by powerful elementals and his dragon.

Forcing herself onward, Raeve takes a concealed route up the wall to the quieter side overlooking the Shade. She moves through a rune-lined tunnel trapped to repel intruders and reveals that only she and Essi can safely pass. After removing her outer clothes to expose a practical skinsuit, she sends her disguise and supplies down a chute and prepares to enter her hidden home.

At the edge of the wall, Raeve pauses to look out over the snowy plains and the sky filled with dragon-moons. She reflects on the beauty and sorrow of the fallen dragons turned celestial tombs, imagining that becoming a moon would at least leave something bright behind. Her thoughts settle on a small adolescent Moonplume moon called Hae's Perch, which always comforts her; although Essi once offered to tell its sad history, Raeve chooses not to know it, preserving one small source of uncomplicated hope.