Alice Law and Peter Murdoch reach a towering wall of compacted bones where vast queues of Shades wait to pass onward. Attempting to slip through, Alice is rebuffed as the Shades manifest enough solidity to block and jostle them. An irritable mathematician Shade recognizes them as magicians and, while sneering, confirms that Jacob Grimes forced his way ahead and is likely far into the courts.

Pressed for time, Alice and Peter decide to bypass the queues by climbing the wall. Alice, an experienced climber, leads easily; Peter, terrified of heights, freezes mid-ascent. Alice talks him through proper technique and resting positions, insists on decisive movement, and physically hauls him over the lip when he reaches the top.

They collapse on the narrow summit, Peter shaken and tearful, revealing a rare vulnerability that unsettles their usual guarded dynamic. After resting, they peer over the other side and confront a shifting, disorienting vista that refuses stable perspective—mountains, labyrinths, and radial patterns flicker, inducing pain and nausea.

Alice reframes the dizzying sight as a problem of perspective and urges focus on immediate steps. Determined to keep pace with Grimes before reincarnation, they resolve to climb down into the non-Euclidean courts and continue the pursuit.