Approaching Sungrave carved into Boösaule, Lysander marvels at the necropolis of dragonlike spires and notes bustling new trade and warships. He and Cassius infer the Rim has been quietly rebuilding; if Seraphina’s evidence against Romulus spreads, the Rim could fully awaken.

In a caldarium, attendants tend to Lysander’s bruises from Pandora’s men. Offered Pinks, he refuses and reflects on the engineered exploitation of their Color, disturbed when the Pink Aurae shows relief at his refusal. The moment underscores his moral distance from Gold customs and his awareness they are being monitored.

Cassius keeps up light banter to mask that surveillance, teasing about chastity and wagering with Pytha, then turns pragmatic: they are not true guests and may be expendable when Dido’s coup resolves. He doubts the coup’s success, citing loyalty to Romulus among Io’s minor Lords and across the Rim, and he questions whether Seraphina ever recovered real proof.

Lysander resents Cassius’s sanctimony and distrust of Golds, recalling losses and the death of Cassius’s family that fueled his former Sovereign’s murder. Yet he also remembers Cassius’s genuine care during their years aboard the Archimedes. Seraphina and Cassius’s guards say Pytha lives, giving a fragile hope.

They reminisce about music and games on the Archimedes, briefly sharing an impossible fantasy of returning to that life. Beneath the nostalgia, both sense an irreversible change: even if they survive Io, Lysander has outgrown their private world, and the bond between them is quietly breaking.