Traveling ten days into the northern weald in the depths of winter, Gabriel led Dior and their mare Fortuna through a landscape overtaken by Blight: glowing maryswort, shadespine, and fungoid growths. He remained sleepless and anxious, guarding Dior and sensing unnatural presences that left too-many-toed, sulfur-reeking tracks around their camps.

On the eleventh day, they entered a clearing dominated by an ancient tree hung with twig sculptures and corpses—some fresh—its surrounding trees bowed like penitents beneath asphyxia growths. Gabriel felt as if the tree whispered to him, confirming that northern corruption surpassed prior warnings. Dior, unnerved, questioned their route as the two traded terse words, with Ashdrinker interjecting and Gabriel rebuking the sword for having stabbed him days earlier.

As they made camp under driving snow and black skies, Gabriel’s senses picked a mingling of decay, fungi, distant animal traces, and Dior’s blood, beneath which lurked a fainter, ominous scent. They discussed Dior’s uncertain role as a possible savior and the threats pursuing her, including Danton and the masked sanguimancer Liathe. Gabriel reflected on the Esani and his own bloodline’s limited practical impact, asserting that his choices, not his veins, defined him.

Dior connected the names Esan and Esani and probed for meaning, while Gabriel recalled the truths and deceptions in San Michon’s library from his youth with Astrid and Chloe. He reiterated a credo learned with Astrid—aim the heart at the world—and that courage, not lineage, mattered.

Settling by the fire, Dior asked gently about Gabriel’s daughter, Patience. He described their southern lighthouse home cut off by tides at night, Patience’s favorite color (blue) and flower (silverbell, like Astrid). Dior apologized for pulling him from his family; Gabriel promised he would return to them soon and ended the questions.

Throughout, Gabriel and Dior both sensed a stalking presence. Gabriel finally saw it clearly: a pale, porcelain-skinned figure with long black hair watching from beyond the firelight. The figure remained silent, waiting until Dior fell asleep, then receded into deeper shadow. Gabriel rose and followed the apparition into the dark.