Guided by memory, Livira and Arpix return to the site where an assistant once lay and a portal once stood. The bodies and doorway are gone, but a pearlescent patch of assistant blood remains. Livira collects it with a gluing brush, chooses a quiet, obscure aisle, and—despite Arpix’s warnings—paints a shaky oval. The circle flares to life. Livira steps through at once, leaving the Raven behind when it declines to follow. She emerges in the Exchange alone, fails to find Arpix, waits by Evar’s pool, and eventually sleeps.

Later, reunited with Evar, the pair leap hand in hand into a chosen pool, seeking a peaceful time. Instead of a smooth passage, Livira tumbles through darkness and crawls out into blinding sunlight on the mountain platform before a wolf-headed entrance to the library. Hundreds of assistants line the steps, but their attention is fixed on the city below. Two side-by-side pools—seething with silvery-red light like blood—boil on the platform, and two trails of child-sized, blood-bright footprints lead away and fade.

Livira and Evar descend, debating whether the assistants can perceive them; Evar says they can, but they do not engage. Testing the world, Livira finds her hands pass through stone: they are ghosts. When she leans back over a cliff, expectation alone keeps her from falling, while Evar’s attempt to trust the air nearly sends him over the edge.

They press on toward the city. Livira observes that this Crath is not hers: grand buildings differ, an impossible tower rises, and the streets and square are empty despite the height of day. Exhilarated, Livira flies over steps and rooftops while Evar races below with startling athleticism; both reach the plaza, thrilled by real air and sun.

On the steps of a vast building where a future palace will stand, Livira takes Evar’s hands, has him focus on her, and leads a tentative “dance” to anchor expectation. Together they step, circle, and move from shadow into sunlight—then realize they are suspended above the ground. Livira has mastered flight, and Evar begins to, proving they can shape their ghost-state through belief.