The morning after the storm, Viv tests her injured leg and finds it less tender, though still requiring her crutch. She makes her way down from The Perch, passing a busy boardwalk now bustling with passengers from a docked frigate. She bypasses Thistleburr Booksellers, intent on another errand first.

At Sea-Song Bakery, Viv waits in line and orders biscuits and ginger lassy buns from Maylee, a friendly, flirtatious dwarf baker. Maylee recognizes her as the patient who throttled Highlark and laughs it off, welcoming Viv warmly to Murk and predicting she'll return.

Viv brings the baked goods to Thistleburr as a peace offering. Potroast the gryphet (Fern explains his species) is bribed with biscuit pieces. Fern admits the shop is failing, surviving only on map and sea chart sales. Viv reveals she finished Ten Links in the Chain, and Fern presses her for thoughts; their discussion deepens around the characters Madger and Legann, with Fern raising whether Legann's betrayal was actually an attempt to save Madger from herself.

Fern then offers Viv a new book, Heart's Blade by Russa Tensiger, on an unusual deal: take it now, pay twenty bits if she likes it, nothing if she doesn't, but she must finish it either way or pay regardless. Intrigued and amused, Viv agrees, and Fern's secretive smile suggests the book will challenge Viv's expectations.