Darrow lands at The Pot on Lykos, a grim, reeking complex that once loomed in his memory but now looks small and shabby. Grays scatter before his Obsidian bodyguards as he searches for a familiar face. In a Gray common room, he encounters Ugly Dan, who snaps to obedient attention. Darrow orders Dan to take him to the bubbleGarden while Ragnar and the Obsidians fall in around him.

Inside the bubbleGarden, Darrow finds the place shrunken and fouled by trash and trysts. A candy wrapper lies where he last lay with Eo, and the “stars” above are now recognizable as warships moving to assault Luna. The magic of his memories has drained away, replaced by the stark reality of what the world has become.

He finds haemanthus flowers marking Eo’s grave and recalls placing a single bud there. Knowing the Grays would have exhumed her after his hanging, he accepts her body is gone. He sits cross-legged until sunset, Ragnar keeping a respectful distance before offering a few quiet words. The moment is somber, contemplative, and stripped of ceremony.

Darrow recognizes that both the garden and Eo were imperfect, yet she gave all she could. He came seeking her blessing, but the emptiness here shows the past has fled this cage. Accepting that memory cannot be reclaimed, he decides to let Eo go. His heart must move on to what comes next.