Niclays works feverishly aboard the pirate ship to decode The Tale of Komoridu, transferring the unusually sized characters from the text onto a large roll of silk. Inspired by his memory of the starry vault in Brygstad Palace, he hypothesizes that the large and small characters represent stars of varying brightness and arranges them into panes using star charts borrowed from Padar, the Sepuli navigator. Laya brings him broth and keeps him company, and Niclays briefly opens up about Jannart, revealing that his beloved partner died of plague and shared a deep love of ancient languages and knowledge.

The Golden Empress enters with Padar and Ghonra and demands to see results. Niclays presents his silk chart, explaining his theory that the characters map the stars and can guide them to the mulberry tree. The Golden Empress orders Laya to read the characters as words in Old Seiikinese, and to Niclays's surprise, they form a navigational message: "The Way of the Outcasts begins at the ninth hour of night. The rising jewel is planted in the soil of Komoridu. From under the Magpie's eye, go south and to the Dreaming Star, and look beneath the mulberry tree." Padar confirms the characters form constellations, identifies the Magpie constellation, and determines they must begin their voyage at the end of winter, steering between the Dreaming Star and the South Star.

The Golden Empress is satisfied for now but warns Niclays his life depends on the accuracy of his work. She gives him a cedar staff as a weapon and sends him to visit the captive dragon Nayimathun, suggesting the beast might reveal more about the jewel. After leaving the cabin, Laya embraces Niclays in celebration, and he is overcome with relief and pride at finishing what Jannart began—though a flicker of doubt reminds him that someone had deliberately hidden this knowledge from the East.

In the ship's hold, Niclays confronts the chained dragon Nayimathun. The dragon recognizes him as the man who bartered for its scale and blood, and demands to know about Tané. Niclays dismisses the question and defends his pursuit of immortality. When he mentions the rising jewel from The Tale of Komoridu, Nayimathun reacts strongly, calling them "celestial jewels" and warning Niclays not to let them fall into pirate hands. The dragon urges him that the water in him has grown stagnant but is not beyond cleansing. Niclays reflects on how his life stopped when he was exiled to Orisima—but rather than heeding the dragon's warning, he resolves to no longer be stagnant and carves into Nayimathun's scale with Laya's knife, taking what he has long been denied.