Vigga leads Brother Diaz along the beach after the shipwreck, enjoying the shoreline and slipping in and out of scattered memories. The walk turns flirtatious as Vigga comments on how different Diaz looks without his monk’s habit. When Diaz asks how Vigga became a werewolf, Vigga matter-of-factly says she was bitten and shows him the scar and runes on her shoulder; the mention of the moon makes clear that the transformation still has a powerful hold over her.

The conversation shifts to Diaz. Vigga asks how Diaz became a monk, and Diaz jokes before admitting the subject is serious. Their talk broadens into religion and certainty: Vigga questions how anyone can be sure they have found the truth when so many faiths and factions claim it, while Diaz tries to defend the idea of fixed truth but sounds less certain than he wants to be.

Pressed further, Diaz finally reveals the reason he took vows. Diaz says that in his youth he got a girl pregnant, and because she was the “wrong girl,” his mother pushed him into the monastery for redemption, protection, and to spare the family embarrassment. Vigga is underwhelmed by the confession, since compared with the violence and horrors she has known, Diaz’s secret seems minor; she urges Diaz to throw the shame away instead of carrying it forever.

Their personal talk gives way to the search when Vigga spots wreckage on the beach. Brother Diaz finds an opened chest of fine clothes, and Vigga uses her heightened senses to confirm that Alex was there and that Sunny was with her. Vigga also detects several unwashed men, suggesting Alex and Sunny were either moving cautiously or being pursued, and follows the trail toward the trees. At the edge of the dunes, Vigga catches a new scent, her wolf instincts flare, and she warns Diaz that another werewolf is nearby.