Emily, Wendell, and Ariadne spend the previous day surveying St. Liesl’s surrounding terrain using Danielle de Grey’s accurate maps. Emily assigns Ariadne to sketch each faerie door, but Ariadne is easily distracted, while Wendell grows increasingly sullen as they fail to stumble upon the nexus or a door to his kingdom.

During a rest, Wendell recalls an incident in a Glasgow pub where Emily ended a heated academic confrontation by putting a remnant-charged faerie stone in Dr. Lemont’s hand, sending him to sleep. Wendell says this is why he trusts Emily to find his lost door. Their banter turns serious when Emily admits she wants to see Wendell’s kingdom before deciding whether to marry him; Wendell responds with earnest promises. Wendell then speaks wistfully of his powerful faerie cat, Orga, and unsettles Emily by asking about reliving moments, hinting at his time-shaping abilities.

They locate fourteen faerie doors in total, including two abandoned ones and several that seem to lead to simple brownie households. One door, appearing as a hollow tree stump to the mortals, feels to Wendell like it “leads somewhere” larger and stranger, though not to his realm. With daylight fading and warnings about nocturnal dangers in mind, Wendell urges them to return, and Emily refuses to let Ariadne continue alone, suspecting the girl may overtrust her protective scarf.

Back in St. Liesl, Wendell hopes for a tavern, but they learn from Peter that no pub can operate because businesses must close before dark to prevent patrons being killed by the Folk. Peter mentions such attacks have happened and makes a seed offering as a precaution; Wendell magically makes the seeds bloom into wildflowers. Emily sharply stops Ariadne from taking an offering flower, and Ariadne retreats toward Wendell, leaving Emily frustrated at how easily Wendell wins the girl’s comfort.

At the cottage, Rose reviews Emily’s map notes and Ariadne’s sketches, then unexpectedly praises Emily’s effective fieldwork and apologizes for doubting her, promising to defer to her judgment. Julia Haas arrives with stew and introduces her older daughter, Mattie. Later, Emily finds Rose smoking outside; he renews his warning about trusting Wendell and explains the source of his caution: an old friend who fell in love with a faerie woman, was cruelly abandoned and tied by his beard to a tree, and died soon after being found. Rose implies Emily may someday learn what Wendell truly is—then leaves her with the question of whether she can ever truly “know” him.