Three days after the wolf attack, Kai reflects on how deeply Paedyn has begun to affect him. The pair have settled into a dull routine at their creek camp, splitting up each day to search the forest for opponents and more bands, but they have found nothing except dangerous animals. When Kai returns at sunset, he immediately notices that Paedyn is unusually tense and distracted.

By the fire, Kai pushes Paedyn to admit something is bothering her. He teases her about her lying tell and tries to pull her out of her mood, then deflects her direct question about why he saved her instead of taking her leather and leaving her to die. Kai insists on finishing the dance they once interrupted, and Paedyn reluctantly agrees. While they dance in the moonlight, Kai finally admits that he simply did not want Paedyn to die, and Paedyn reveals that she had assumed Kai was as cruel as his father.

The conversation turns more personal as Paedyn says she does not hate Kai, even if she still claims to despise him. They spar flirtatiously over whether Kai would have helped anyone else, over how Paedyn first chose him as a target in Loot, and over how closely Kai watches her. Paedyn proves her skill by stealing Braxton's leather strap from Kai during the dance, which reinforces both her talent and the charged intimacy between them.

Still dancing, they begin asking each other simpler questions that gradually expose deeper truths. Kai says his favorite color is blue, clearly because it reminds him of Paedyn's eyes, while Paedyn avoids naming a favorite color. Kai admits he loves lemon tarts; Paedyn says her favorite is butterscotch because her father used to share it with patients and with her after helping tend wounds. That memory leads them into a more serious discussion of family, and Kai explains that his father treated him more like a soldier than a son, while his mother was the rare source of kindness in his life.

As they continue talking, Paedyn shares more of her past, including how one of Kai's Imperials once split her lip after doubting she was Psychic. Kai is angered by the story, and the two keep trading memories until their playful movement slows into a close sway. The attraction between them becomes impossible to ignore, and Kai asks why Paedyn did not shoot him when she had the chance days earlier. Paedyn answers that although she expected to die, she did not want to damn Kai too.

Paedyn then pulls back, and Kai is forced to confront how much he cares for someone who is supposed to be only his opponent. Just as Paedyn starts to say something more, an unknown woman interrupts from the darkness and announces that Kai and Paedyn have something she needs, abruptly ending the moment and introducing a new threat.