Leaving Thistleburr Booksellers with Heart's Blade in hand, Viv nearly puts her foot through a rotten plank in the boardwalk outside the shop. She spots Pitts, the scarred orc handyman with his tool wagon, and flags him down to ask where she might acquire replacement planks. He directs her to a mill outside the walls.

Viv proposes paying Pitts to pick up boards and lend her some tools so she can repair the boardwalk herself. Pitts questions her motives, asking whether anyone asked her to do it and whether she knows what she's doing. Viv admits no on both counts but explains Fern has enough to worry about. After consideration, Pitts curtly tells her to meet him at noon the next day, leaves the payment vague, and rolls off.

Viv returns to The Perch hoping for a quiet lunch and time with her new book, but the inn is packed with the docked frigate's crew and passengers. Her usual table has been claimed, and her preferred chair is occupied by a young, cocky gnome with goggles, knives, and the air of a recruit looking to prove herself. The gnome rebuffs Viv's polite request to swap seats with feigned indifference.

Refusing to be baited, Viv deliberately takes the other chair, swings her injured leg aside, and opens Heart's Blade, choosing to ignore the gnome while waiting for service in the crowded tavern.