Tané receives the emperor's letter for Queen Sabran, along with new weapons and supplies, and departs the City of the Thousand Flowers at nightfall with Nayimathun. Only Loth and Thim witness the departure. Loth asks Tané to tell Sabran he is safe and to relay his regards to Ead if she wakes her. Nayimathun carries Tané westward, flying above the clouds by day and avoiding settlements at night, though they see increasing pillars of smoke from fire-breather attacks.

They rest on a small island in the Sleepless Sea before crossing the Abyss. During their journey, Tané and Nayimathun share a playful moment splashing water, and Tané laughs for the first time since Susa's death. They discuss Inys and Queen Sabran, with Nayimathun counseling compassion. The crossing of the Abyss is grueling, marked by bitter cold and mountain sickness. When they reach the southern coast near the Ersyr, Nayimathun swims to replenish moisture before they fly over the Burlah desert. The desert heat is devastating—Tané suffers sun quake and their water runs dry. Nayimathun's scales begin drying dangerously as they press on toward the Lasian Basin.

Tané loses consciousness and wakes to find herself falling through trees into a river. She barely survives, pulling herself onto a fallen tree and reaching the bank. The waning jewel is still on her sash, but her weapons are mostly lost with the saddle. She fashions a torch and follows a trail of silver dragon blood into the forest. She discovers Nayimathun in a clearing, injured by an arrow to her crown, surrounded by six Red Damsels of the Priory. Four leave to hunt for the dragonrider while two remain.

Tané ambushes the two remaining warriors. Despite her skill with bladed wheels, she is outmatched by their combat experience and sorcery. She suffers wounds to her shoulder, jaw, waist, and thigh, and is about to lose when Nayimathun intervenes, seizing and hurling one warrior. Tané kills the other with her knife when the woman threatens Nayimathun with fire. Tané removes the arrow from Nayimathun's crown, but the dragon cannot fly until she heals. Nayimathun instructs Tané to follow the remaining Red Damsels to the Priory, find the orange fruit, and save Ead, while Nayimathun follows the river to the sea to recover.

Tané reluctantly parts from Nayimathun and tracks the Red Damsels north, guided by a strange warmth she feels in her blood. She reaches a clearing, exhausted and wounded, where she sees a woman in white with light shining from her fingers before losing consciousness.