Gabriel awoke near dawn in the frigid, silent woods, noting that Dior’s bedroll was empty and Saoirse, who had volunteered for dawn watch, was absent. Checking his sanctus reduction from the blood of Danton Voss’s fledgling, he followed Saoirse’s scent into the trees and found Saoirse and Dior kissing by a dead oak, their intimacy escalating.

Gabriel interrupted them, chastising Saoirse for abandoning her watch. Saoirse retorted that the area was secure, revealing her lioness, Phoebe, had been silently guarding and would have attacked any threat. Dior, embarrassed and angry, told Gabriel to mind his business and stormed back toward camp, leaving Gabriel and Saoirse face to face.

Gabriel criticized the age difference, implying Dior was too young, while Saoirse demanded to know why he cared. After initially dismissing it, Gabriel moved to leave, but Saoirse pressed him on his reasons for being with the group. Gabriel deflected, and then identified Saoirse’s true heritage by her kilt’s weave: contrary to her claims of Clan Rígan, she was from Clan Dúnnsair.

Saoirse admitted little and remained defiant. Gabriel challenged her lack of One Faith devotion and questioned why a pagan would risk her life for San Michon’s Grail. Saoirse declared her own kind of faith, gesturing to tattoos that, in her belief, promised protection, boasting that no man could kill her and no devil would dare.

The exchange grew sharper: Saoirse called palebloods like Gabriel “monsters who wear the skins of men,” and mocked his vices and past behavior. Gabriel pressed again on her true reason for traveling with Dior; Saoirse deflected with a joke about Dior’s kissing and reiterated boundaries and terms for traveling together until the Volta.

With Phoebe circling and tension high, Saoirse closed the confrontation, insisting Gabriel keep his eyes and opinions to himself. She departed back toward camp with Phoebe, and Gabriel, accepting the uneasy terms, followed, ending the scene without resolution to their deeper conflicts.