After returning to her apartment, Bryce calls Juniper, who tries to persuade her to join a public dance class. Bryce deflects, revealing she stopped dancing after Danika's death. Juniper insists Danika would be heartbroken, and Bryce reluctantly agrees to consider it. When Bryce invites Juniper over to watch TV, Juniper declines because she needs to practice for the dance company. Bryce then tries calling Fury, but the call goes straight to audiomail, underscoring Bryce's growing isolation—she reflects that her social circle has shrunk to essentially one friend, and even that friend is rarely available.

Alone in her apartment, Bryce eats a halfhearted dinner and tries to watch TV, cycling through news channels showing the Asteri leader Rigelus giving a speech, footage of human mech-suits fighting Imperial Legions, and starving humans in the Eternal City. She settles on mindless programming, recognizing that since Danika's death she has used loud, vapid television to drown out silence and introspection. The quiet presses in on her, and memories from the Den—especially Ithan's cold face—threaten to overwhelm her. Determined not to spiral as she did in the first winter after Danika's death, Bryce puts Syrinx in his crate and leaves the apartment despite having sworn to Hunt she wouldn't.

Meanwhile, Hunt is at the Munin and Hugin bar for the first time ever, having finally accepted Isaiah's long-standing invitation. He barely finishes half a beer before Naomi—whom he'd asked to watch Bryce—calls to report that Bryce has left, heading toward Five Roses. Hunt pays for his drink and says goodbye to Isaiah, Viktoria, and Justinian before flying to intercept Bryce. He finds Naomi hovering above a fountain of bioluminescent moon lilies in a night garden, and she directs him down the path.

Hunt catches up to Bryce as she wanders through the night garden, surrounded by glowing flowers and star oaks. She admits the quiet bothers her and that she has essentially no friends available. When Hunt grips her elbow and leans close, lightning cracking overhead, the tension between them becomes charged and intimate—Bryce's eyes drop to his mouth and she blushes. Before anything more can happen, a kristallos demon crashes out of the bushes behind Hunt and sinks its teeth into his shoulder.