At the tavern, Wendell Bambleby thrives on attention, entertaining the room and flirting, especially with the woodcutter Lilja, who receives him politely but without real encouragement. Emily Wilde enjoys the unusual freedom of being ignored and spends the evening reading instead. Thora Gudridsdottir joins Emily, shows interest in faerie scholarship, and hints that she has encountered other Folk; Thora offers to answer Emily’s questions later, but only under safe conditions. Thora also questions Emily about Shadow, and Emily repeats the false story she uses to explain the dog.

The next morning, Emily wakes late and finds the cottage empty except for Shadow. Her brief peace is interrupted when a young woman emerges from Wendell’s room wrapped in a sheet and asks Emily about Wendell’s romantic history. Emily gives curt answers until Shadow helps drive the woman off. Emily then visits the spring and spends the morning reviewing notes, planning afterward to search for the nykur near the mountains.

Before Emily can leave, Wendell returns looking rumpled and annoyed. Emily quickly learns that Wendell took Lizzie and Henry to see the changeling at Mord and Aslaug’s farmstead as an educational exercise. Emily is appalled because the assistants are inexperienced and the changeling is dangerous in ways iron alone cannot solve. Wendell admits he underestimated the creature and says he would not have allowed Emily to face it alone if he had understood its power.

As the argument cools, Wendell explains that the changeling showed Lizzie and Henry horrifying visions, leaving them shaken enough that he sent them to the tavern with money and plans to give them the next day off. Emily admits she left the changeling angry the previous day, which likely worsened the encounter. Wendell dismisses the changeling’s own visions of cold, ice, and wolves, but notes that Mord and Aslaug were sorry Emily had not come, surprising Emily with evidence that she has won some goodwill.

The conversation then turns to Emily’s larger problem in Hrafnsvik. Wendell bluntly explains that Emily offended Auður by insisting on paying for supper and then made matters worse by questioning villagers without first acknowledging Auður’s authority and hospitality. Because the village now distrusts Emily, the locals are withholding information about the Hidden Ones, hindering both scholars’ research. Emily reluctantly accepts that Wendell is right, and the two agree that they must repair Emily’s relationship with Auður before their limited time runs out; to escape the painful discussion, Emily asks to go see the lake, and Wendell follows her out.