The chapter opens with an extended flashback to Niclays Roos's past in Mentendon. He and Jannart utt Zeedeur, the Duke of Zeedeur and companion to High Prince Edvart, share a secret romantic relationship that would be punishable under the laws of the Knight of Fellowship. They meet covertly in the palace and at a discreet inn. Their intimate evening together reveals the depth of their love and the pain of hiding it—Niclays, unwed and of lower birth, yearns for a future where they can live openly, while Jannart is bound by his marriage to Aleidine and his duties as duke.

Jannart speaks of his obsession with restoring lost knowledge from before the Grief of Ages. He tells Niclays he has inherited a fragment of ancient text from his aunt, who served as Viceroy of Orisima for forty years. The fragment, written in what appears to be an ancient form of Seiikinese with oddly spaced characters, was given to his aunt by a man who warned her to carry it far from the East and never bring it back. Jannart believes the text contains a hidden message of immense historical importance and announces he must travel to the University of Ostendeur and then to an isolated library near Wilgastrōm to decipher it. They discuss plans to eventually leave Virtudom together and find the legendary Milk Lagoon or some other place free from the Knight of Fellowship's laws, though Jannart wants to wait a few more years for his young granddaughter Truyde to grow.

The scene shifts abruptly to the present. Niclays awakens in a rowing boat, groggy and bound, having been drugged and captured. He realizes he is on the Sundance Sea and is brought aboard a colossal nine-masted galleon belonging to the Fleet of the Tiger Eye—the most feared pirate fleet in the East. He is lashed to a mast and eventually brought before the captain, who turns out to be the Golden Empress herself, the supreme ruler of all pirates, commanding forty thousand under her banner.

Through an interpreter, the Golden Empress questions Niclays about the ancient manuscript fragment found on his person. Niclays explains truthfully that it was bequeathed to him by a dear friend (Jannart) and that he brought it from Mentendon to Seiiki hoping to decode it. The Golden Empress is skeptical but does not immediately punish him. Niclays prostrates himself and begs for his life, offering his skills as an anatomist. The Empress gives him the mocking name "Sea-Moon" (meaning jellyfish) and tells him he must prove his worth as a surgeon, since her last one tried to poison her. Niclays also learns that the dragon captured from the beach—Nayimathun—is being held below decks, sedated with firecloud. The Golden Empress dismisses him to perform his first surgery, making clear that loyalty is non-negotiable and there are no second chances.