Din Kol searches the Haza estate grounds under guard, inspecting the towering fretvine walls and the stream that passes through two heavy sluice gates. At the eastern gate Din notices overturned, mud-stained stones that suggest recent disturbance, then walks a straight line inland and finds an oval patch of yellowed grass beneath a pale tree.

Din uncovers a concealed cache: a stonewood oval laid under turf like a lid, hiding a shallow, person-length hole with pressed soil. The guards are alarmed, but Din finds no remaining object inside and cannot yet explain its purpose. Frustrated by limited progress and the growing darkness, Din asks to leave the estate.

Instead, Fayazi Haza summons Din again. On the way, Din overhears Fayazi arguing with someone unheard, speaking of a “third” and her lack of guidance, before Fayazi’s engraver catches Din listening and shuts the shutter. Din is brought into a private chamber where Fayazi, now dressed for display, questions Din about his findings and presses him to stay and eat.

Fayazi turns the meeting into pressure and temptation: she speaks about the Empire’s worsening defenses and hints at needing allies within the inner rings, then demands Din share what Ana Dolabra and the investigation have learned. Fayazi probes Din’s family situation and offers him a “respite,” presenting a pheromonally altered court dancer (a plaizaier) to overwhelm Din’s senses and weaken his resolve, while Din fights the induced arousal and refuses to talk.

As Fayazi presses harder—asking what Ana knows about her father and Taqtasa Blas—Din’s memory snaps to a key detail: the court dancer’s oranje-leaf-and-spice scent matches the smell Din previously noticed on Signum Misik Jilki’s scarf and on Blas’s oil pot. Din accuses Fayazi of lying and deduces Misik Jilki and other Engineers visited the Haza estate for the court dancers, then demands to know what Fayazi gained from “all those dead Engineers.” Fayazi panics and orders Din thrown out; guards roughly eject him and dump him at the gates, where Captain Miljin waits with Legionnaires and checks that Din is unharmed.