As Gaudior and Charles Wallace soar through space, an icy Echthroid wind attacks them with a death stench. They are blown down onto a desolate plain of what appears to be solidified lava under a flickering pink sky. Gaudior explains they have been blown into a Projection, a possible destructive future the Echthroi want to make real. They must do nothing, as any action could solidify this nightmare. A monstrous, one-eyed creature approaches. Terrified, Charles Wallace recites the rune, calling on the sun’s brightness and snow’s whiteness. Pure white snow begins falling, covering the wasteland as the creature stops and stares upward at the falling flakes. A cool wind rises, and Gaudior launches them back into space, escaping the Projection.

They ride the wind safely again, singing together with the music of the spheres. In her attic, Meg wraps herself and Ananda in an eiderdown against the cold and closes her eyes to kythe. Gaudior lands in a new When. The valley is now a larger lake, the rock flatter, the forest familiar. A golden-haired, blue-eyed young man stands on the rock at dawn, and Meg knows Charles Wallace is Within him. As Meg drifts to sleep, Charles Wallace realizes the young man is Madoc, a character from a novel he struggles to remember clearly.

Gaudior commands him to stop trying to remember and fully surrender to Madoc; he must not bring his own knowledge into this life. The young prince, dressed in flowers and ferns, sings a greeting to the sunrise. An old man named Reschal emerges from the forest and joins the song. Madoc helps him onto the rock, calling him his to-be-father. Today is Madoc’s wedding day; he will marry Zyll and become Madoc, son of Reschal. Reschal questions Madoc’s commitment, and Madoc recounts leaving Gwynedd in Wales to escape his brothers’ war over their father’s throne. His brother Gwydyr supposedly died from a snakebite. The wedding ceremony begins with singing. Children and tribe members arrive, followed by Zyll, who performs the ritual Wedding Dance. Madoc joins her, and they sing and dance together. The Wind People gradually accepted Madoc after he refused to be worshipped as a god. As Reschal prepares to join the couple’s hands, the sound of distant war drums grows loud and threatening. Three dugout canoes arrive, and Madoc recognizes his supposedly dead brother Gwydyr standing in the lead canoe.

Meg kythes the events from her attic as Charles Wallace-within-Madoc experiences them. Gwydyr leaps ashore, cold and hostile, wearing a golden crown. He claims kingship over the lake lands and demands Zyll for himself. When Zyll says she and Madoc are already joined, Gwydyr’s warriors brandish spears. Madoc challenges Gwydyr to single combat after declaring that there will be no bloodshed because of the sons of Owain. Reschal reveals the Wind People are also armed, having heard war drums since the previous evening. Both sides lower their weapons at Madoc’s insistence.

Gwydyr chooses fire as their weapon. When Gwydyr shoves Reschal to the ground, Madoc helps the old man and becomes transfixed by a vision in a puddle of water. Time freezes as the scrying pool shows a baby whose mother calls him “Madog,” who later becomes a destructive man associated with fire and mushroom-shaped clouds over the Earth. Madoc stamps out the vision. Water seeps back, showing a second vision a blue-eyed baby called El Zarco, whom his mother describes as a token for peace. Madoc gathers flower garlands, and the entire tribe adds their crowns to build a pyre over the puddle. Reciting the rune’s invocation, ending with fire’s strength, Madoc calls on the sun, which ignites the roses. He throws Gwydyr’s heated spear into the lake and wrestles his brother until sunset. Madoc forces Gwydyr underwater until he struggles for mercy, then banishes him and throws his crown into the lake. Madoc and Zyll reunite in song. Reschal says their dreams may be stronger than Gwydyr’s nightmare, but Madoc shudders at the memory of destruction.

Charles Wallace returns to his own body beside Gaudior as the scene changes. Gaudior confirms the fire and scrying were real for Madoc, suggesting that the destructive vision is connected to the Projections of the Echthroi. The scene transforms to the present-day, snow-covered rock. Gaudior reveals that Gwydyr traveled to South America; Charles Wallace connects this to Patagonia and Vespugia from a book he struggles to remember. He realizes the Echthroi are blocking his memory of the book and resolves to find the connection between Madoc, Gwydyr, and Mad Dog Branzillo.

Meg awakens, understanding through their kythic link that Charles Wallace needs her to find a connection between Branzillo and Wales. She goes to her brothers’ room. Sandy researches Vespugia, confirming it was part of Patagonia and that a Welsh group settled there in 1865. He lists numerous 1865 events, including the publication of Matthew Maddox’s first novel, Once More United. Dennys recalls reading Maddox’s second and final book, The Horn of Joy, about a Welsh prince shipwrecked in the New World. Meg returns to her attic, having found the author and book for Charles Wallace and the 1865 Wales-Vespugia connection. She notes only 15 minutes have passed on her clock and wonders how any of this connects to Mrs. O’Keefe.