Niclays Roos enjoys a period of freedom in Ginura as a guest of the Moyaka household, attending the Summerfall festival and exploring the city with his friends Eizaru and Purumé. He receives two letters: one from Aubrecht II, the new High Prince of Mentendon, refusing to allow his return home unless he can appease Queen Sabran; and one from his goddaughter Truyde, written over a year ago, asking about the Tablet of Rumelabar and its riddle. Niclays writes out the riddle, which speaks of a cosmic balance between fire from below and light from above, and contemplates its possible meaning regarding wyrms and the meteor shower that ended the Grief of Ages.

Niclays learns from Eizaru that after his audience with the Warlord, he must return to Orisima. Despairing at this news, he accompanies Eizaru into the city, where he accidentally steps on the foot of a woman and knocks over a vase. The woman is Tané Miduchi, a dragonrider, and Niclays recognizes her fishhook scar as matching Sulyard's description of the woman who smuggled him into Cape Hisan. Eizaru confirms her identity as the rider of Nayimathun of the Deep Snows.

Back at the Moyaka house, Niclays pieces together the logic: Tané hid Sulyard in Orisima to prevent the port from being closed before her dragonrider selection ceremony. He realizes he could accuse her before the Warlord, potentially leveraging the Mentish-Seiikinese alliance to protect himself and possibly save Sulyard. He questions Eizaru about dragonriders and how crimes by them should be reported, but keeps his true intentions hidden.

The chapter shifts to Tané's perspective. She climbs the Grieving Orphan, a volcanic stack, to reach Nayimathun's shelter. She recognizes Niclays's name—Roos—as the man Susa whispered to her, the one who had hidden the outsider. She fears he may be in Ginura to testify about that night but reassures herself there is no proof. In the shelter, Nayimathun shares ancient dragon lore: dragons originated from the comet Kwiriki's Lantern, which deposited molten starlight into the sea. The comet also left behind two celestial jewels that allowed dragons to control the waves and maintain their strength. These jewels were used by an Eastern woman—not Berethnet—to fold the sea over the Nameless One, and have been lost for nearly a thousand years. Nayimathun also recounts how dragons once had powers of shapeshifting, illusion, and dream-weaving, as illustrated by the legend of Kwiriki and Snow-Walking Maiden.

Tané is unable to confess her secret about the outsider to Nayimathun, fearing she would lose her dragon. As they settle for the night, Nayimathun cryptically mentions that "he is stirring" and a shadow lies on the West. Tané sleeps beside her dragon, comforted yet haunted by the feeling that something is closing in on her.