Raeve continues through Dhomm with Pyrok and pays closer attention to the city. She is struck by how lively, well-fed, and unafraid the people seem, which forces her to revise her assumptions about the Burn King’s domain. When Pyrok asks whether she has traveled elsewhere, Raeve deflects with dark humor about being carried by Rygun, while privately reminding herself not to grow attached to a place ruled by Kaan.

As they wander, Pyrok buys molten mead and explains that Dhomm uses gold rather than bloodstone as currency because mining fossilized dragon blood encourages more dragon slaughter. Raeve asks whether bloodstone is still used medicinally, and Pyrok answers that any bloodstone in the city does not come from mining protected by the kingdom. He then leads Raeve to The Curly Quill, tells her to greet Vruhn, and waits outside while she enters.

Inside the shop, Raeve plans to trade the stolen candlestick for supplies and travel money. She finds Vruhn, an elderly Mindweft, who immediately recognizes her and reads her intentions without prompting. Vruhn identifies her shopping list in detail: blades, pins, a bandolier, clothing, and gear for a journey to The Fade to hunt Rekk Zharos. He also perceives Raeve’s grief over Essi, her loss of Nee, her desire to remove the iron cuff, and her wish to remain officially dead so the Fíur du Ath will not discover she survived.

What begins as useful mindreading becomes painful when Vruhn presses deeper into Raeve’s buried trauma. He senses that something precious is missing from her, says the answer is hidden in the place where she buries everything, and offers to help her uncover it. Raeve refuses sharply and stops him, unwilling to face what his insight is exposing. Vruhn apologizes, then quietly gathers decoy supplies, a diary, ink, coal sticks, a sturdier metal tool for the cuff, and a pouch of gold, arranging the trade without further argument.

Before Raeve leaves, Vruhn reveals how much the iron cuff has dulled her senses, telling her she would be able to hear rain coming if she listened. He contrasts Clode, whom Raeve embraces as fierce and untamed, with Rayne, whom Raeve associates with death, frost, and grief. Vruhn counters that Rayne is power, not merely sorrow, and implies Raeve could wield that power if she stopped burying her pain. Raeve cuts off the conversation, thanks him for taking the candlestick as payment, and leaves with her satchel, unsettled and emotionally flayed as the day’s earlier brightness collapses.