Ephraim attends Freihild’s sky burial on the mountain as Obsidians mourn. Valdir, shattered, cuts his valor tail to bind Freihild’s bones. At a dour feast in Griffinhold, Sefi declares ashvar on the Ascomanni and vows vengeance, but Valdir erupts, calls the story a lie, insults Ozgard, and publicly impugns Sefi’s honor and jealousy over Freihild, then storms out.

Outside, Ephraim and Pax debate whether the attackers were true Ascomanni and how Volsung Fá could be present. Summoned by Xenophon, they brief Sefi privately: Pax confirms intelligence that “the Fá” is referenced operationally by raiders, though transit logistics are unclear. Sefi weighs seeking Virginia’s help; Electra predicts Virginia will try to claim one of them as leverage.

Crisis interrupts: in the aerie, griffin stablehands and Valkyrie lie butchered, the griffins stolen, and Sefi mercy-kills her mortally wounded griffin, Godeater. Valdir, lacerated and stunned, kneels amid gore with his axe, raving and accusing Sefi after claiming a trail links the plot to the Echo of Ragnar. Sefi incapacitates him and orders him thrown into the deep cells.

Ephraim and Xenophon test Valdir’s spilled azag and find fever cloud mushroom—poison. Sefi has Ozgard hauled in. The shaman pleads innocence, but Sefi strips him of all influence, condemning him to live as a silent shadow among the tribe, and vows no mercy if Fá is known to him.

Pressed by Ephraim, Sefi finally reveals her hidden affliction: Atalantia’s designer “yellow death,” a progressive genetic poison only slowed by Xenophon, leaving her with limited years. Fearing tribal fracture under Valdir after her death, she discloses that Volga is Ragnar’s daughter and her intended heir to unify the Alltribe. Ephraim realizes Sefi tried to use him to recruit Volga and rejects her plan, vowing to keep Volga away.