In the Iudex tower courtyard, Ana Dolabra, Captain Miljin, and Din Kol review recent interviews and evidence. Ana frames their work as three separate crimes: the dappleglass-linked poisonings (Blas, Kaygi Haza, and the ten Engineers), an older and still-murky wrongdoing by Kaygi Haza connected to Blas and Oypat, and the drilled-head murders of Suberek and Rona Aristan that increasingly point back to the Haza clan.

Ana says she knows more about the killer behind Suberek and Aristan but doubts they can catch the culprit. Before explaining, she proposes testing a theory about Din. Miljin lends Din a locked scabbard with a complex unsheathing mechanism; after being shown once, Din opens it instantly, revealing that Din can retain complex movement patterns after a single demonstration.

Ana and Miljin explain this rare engraver trait as “memory in the muscles”: Din can reproduce learned motions perfectly, which helps explain Din’s lockpicking, copying, and sudden effectiveness in past violence. Miljin warns the ability is limited—Din can only replicate exact memorized movements, not fully improvise judgment-heavy combat—and Ana presses Miljin to give Din any practical advantage quickly because Din may be in danger.

Miljin and Ana then describe a rumored Haza tool: a twitch, a suffused combat being built for explosive speed whose augmentations historically failed due to bodily breakdown and contagion susceptibility. They suggest a twitch could be responsible for drilled-head killings like Suberek and Aristan, and Ana believes such an assassin may now be in Talagray to silence anyone who can connect the Hazas to Blas, the Engineers’ deaths, and the breach. Ana argues Suberek likely became a target when Fayazi Haza replaced stained fernpaper panels to cover evidence, after which heavier “cleanup” arrived and eliminated Suberek as a link.

Returning to the poisonings, Ana says they are close to catching Jolgalgan because a prior detail now makes sense: Engineer Captain Kilem Terez reported a suspicious “crackler” following him. Ana concludes Jolgalgan likely entered the Haza estate through the sluice gates, which would require someone very strong to lift; she suspects an Oypati crackler aided Jolgalgan, strengthening the theory of Oypati revenge. Ana searches a roster of strength-augmented Legionnaires in Talagray to find a name, plans to involve the Apoths and a contagion crew once identified, and quietly takes three of Din’s black hairs as a protective measure against an expected poisoning attempt. As night falls, Miljin drills Din in dirty, practical tricks, reinforcing that Din’s knack helps only for rehearsed motions and that a twitch or crackler would still be deadly.