Kol and Malo eat at a shabby New Town tavern and spread out a canal map to reconsider Sujedo’s death. Kol traces the distance between the locked room where Sujedo vanished and the canal where Sujedo’s remains were found, concluding again that twelve leagues is far too great a distance for someone to have simply carried the body. Malo adds that the recovery site lies near one of the smugglers’ camps, a fact that first made her suspect them, but she says the details of the crime still do not fit that explanation.

Malo then explains the larger smuggling trade in Yarrow. For decades, thieves have stolen valuable apothetikal reagents, grafts, and cures and moved them west to the River Asigis, where they can be sold for great profit. When Kol asks whether smugglers kill, Malo says they once were less murderous but have become far more violent in the past two years, sometimes wiping out barge crews or attacking Engineers to seize cargo, while the wardens respond with equal brutality.

Kol presses her on why the Empire has not stopped the trade. Malo explains that Yarrow is not yet fully imperial territory, because King Lalaca still technically rules, even though the Treasury delegation has been working toward imperial control. She also notes that many smugglers are Pithian and Yarrow folk who know the land and waters intimately, which is why the wardens hunting them are often locals as well. When Kol asks how she feels about the Empire’s takeover, Malo gives a guarded answer, saying it was the king’s agreement and implying that Kol does not understand what it means to live under a king.

The conversation shifts from the case to Kol’s position. Malo asks what Special Division is, and Kol explains that each Iyalet keeps a small pool of officers for unusual or complex situations across branches such as Engineers, Apoths, Legion, and Iudex, which is why he was sent to this strange death. Malo says she will consider him glorious only if he can explain how a dead man passed through walls.

As they finish dinner, Kol tells Malo to meet him at sunrise, expecting his commanding officer to send them to the Treasury bank next. Malo doubts whether Kol’s superior can make sense of the mystery, but Kol admits that his commanding officer may solve it by nightfall or the next morning. Her confidence in the superior investigator points the inquiry toward the bank and underscores that the case may soon turn on some hidden connection Kol and Malo have not yet seen.