That evening, Chak cooks over a small fire while Astryx, Fern, and Zyll occupy camp chairs from the wagon. The hazferou perches on their horse’s back. Fern works on a letter to her friend Viv recounting the duel in enthusiastic detail.

Chak asks Fern’s name. She introduces herself as a bookseller and not anyone in particular. Nigel interjects that she was a grossly inebriated stowaway, which mortifies Fern. With only two bowls, Chak serves Fern and Zyll first. Zyll eats monstrously, horrifying Fern.

When Fern asks about Zyll’s infamy, Chak lists the goblin’s alleged crimes—thievery, arson, espionage, and stealing an experimental relic from the college in Thune. A glance between Astryx and Chak confirms the bounty is very large. Chak claims his motivation is the good of the Territory, but Nigel scoffs that he only seeks to gild his own name. As Zyll pokes at the exposed part of Nigel’s blade, Astryx sheathes him completely.

Fern asks why Chak will not try to capture Zyll again. He states it would be dishonorable, as he was defeated fairly. Astryx announces they are leaving. As they depart, Zyll insists on giving the bewildered Chak the hazferou.

At dawn, Fern sees Bycross for the first time. The city is carved into a massive cliff face, with a zigzagging white road, pulley systems, and colorful banners. She is awestruck. The cart joins a line of travelers—stone-fey, dwarves, humans, tapenti, and rattkin—waiting to enter through a stone palisade. To avoid drawing attention, Astryx cloaks and hoods Zyll.

Astryx notes the gate guards are unfamiliar mercenaries rather than the usual Gatewardens. An orc guard from a group called the Four Fingers explains they were hired to deal with a bandit warlord named Taltus the Venger. Astryx bribes him to avoid revealing Zyll, and they are waved through as the guards exchange a meaningful glance.

Inside Bycross, Fern goes to Tareben Booksellers to sell her copy of Ten Links in the Chain for travel money. The stone-fey proprietor offers 40 bits. When Fern brings Astryx into the negotiation, he nervously pays the full 60 bits she requested. Outside, Astryx tells Fern the amount is insufficient for passage to Thune and suggests selling her satchel. Fern refuses, explaining the satchel belonged to the necromancer Varine the Pale’s homunculus. Intrigued, Astryx invites Fern to a meal to hear the story, offering to pay.

Astryx leads them to a surprisingly opulent stone-fey restaurant. The staff recognize her immediately. Astryx unbinds Zyll’s hands before they eat. Over a fancy meal, Fern recounts how Viv and her companions defeated Varine the Pale 20 years ago in Murk.

Warmed by food and wine, Fern becomes an animated storyteller. She describes Satchel the homunculus dragging Varine into a book, Potroast attacking and being pulled in after her, and Viv plunging her arm into the page to rescue the bird. She recounts Viv slamming the book shut while Varine struggled to escape, then finally stabbing it with her sword Blackblood to kill the necromancer. The entire restaurant falls silent, captivated.

When Fern finishes, she notices a look of recognition or longing on Astryx’s face. The spell breaks when Astryx realizes Zyll has vanished from her seat. They discover all the silverware from their table is also missing.

Astryx throws coins on the table and gives chase. Fern follows, struggling to keep up. Astryx finds Zyll’s discarded cloak on the floor. Fern loses sight of the elf but follows the sound of a commotion and a group of Four Fingers mercenaries heading upward. In the crowd, she briefly mistakes a young orc for Viv before the stranger dismisses her.

In a large town square, Fern finds the Four Fingers have surrounded Astryx and Zyll at the base of a statue. Zyll gleefully holds up handfuls of stolen coin purses. The mercenary leader demands Astryx surrender the goblin thief. A Gatewarden captain—a stone-fey in a blue tunic with a silver lantern badge—arrives with two other Wardens to investigate.

When questioned, Zyll speaks the common tongue for the first time, declaring the mercenaries are foxes in the chicken house. Fern is shocked that Zyll can speak the common tongue and rushes into the circle. Amused, Astryx calls Fern her scribe and asks her to explain. Zyll directs Fern’s attention to the red mud caked on the mercenaries’ boots. Fern deduces the mud is from the southern swamplands—Taltus’s territory—and publicly accuses the Four Fingers of being the warlord’s own men running a protection racket. Astryx confirms it is a classic con.

The mercenaries attack, and Astryx and Gatewardens join the fray. Zyll grabs Fern’s cloak and pulls her to safety behind the statue.

The fight ends quickly, with Astryx and the Gatewardens defeating the mercenaries. Fern emerges from behind the statue, awestruck by the Blademistress’s skill. Zyll reappears wearing a stolen kettle helm. After Astryx confers with the Gatewarden captain, Fern feels a painful internal conflict, realizing this is the end of their journey but uncertain if she wants to leave.

Astryx asks Fern to watch Zyll while she briefly enters a shop. Zyll watches Fern intently and cryptically says, “No rocks-es at the bottom. Jump, or no jump” (100). Astryx returns with paired silver bracelets—a magical artifact. She fastens one on Zyll’s wrist and the matching one on her own, creating a link so she can always find the goblin. The enchantment can only be broken if Astryx releases it or if one of them dies.

Astryx gives Fern several silver coins as payment, saying it should be enough to get her home. Fern stares at the coins, paralyzed by indecision. She repeats Zyll’s words and makes her choice. At the Territorial Post station, she writes a brief letter to Viv—“I’m alive. I’m sorry. Fern” (101)—and mails it. She buys fresh parchment and pencils, then runs to the wagon, deciding to continue the journey with Astryx and Zyll.

That evening at a new campsite northeast of Bycross, Fern feels giddy and delighted to be continuing her adventure. Astryx brews nettle tea, and Fern senses an important but unspoken conversation looming. The silence becomes awkward as Astryx struggles to begin. To break the tension, Fern asks how Astryx and Nigel met.

Astryx unsheathes Nigel slightly, and he launches into a long-winded story about his forging, naming his creator as Sandrum Temple. Zyll interrupts by shouting Sandrum’s name and pulling a silver breadknife from her coat. A new voice emanates from the knife, complaining that Sandrum was an asshole. The knife recognizes Astryx and becomes worshipful.

Nigel is outraged, calling the knife an imposter. Zyll calls him Breadlee. The knife states his forge-name is Bradlelys Tertius and that he was once a greatsword before Sandrum reforged him into cutlery after a disagreement. Zyll claims she confiscated him because he is a murder weapon. Breadlee protests he was only involved in the “stabbing part” of a murder (108).

Astryx takes the knife to examine it. She suggests Breadlee’s knowledge of Zyll might make him worth keeping around, then returns him to Zyll and defers further conversation until daylight. The tension between Fern and Astryx recedes, postponed. Unable to sleep, Fern takes out her new supplies and writes for a long time, filling six pages total.

The following day, the group travels northeast along a treacherous cliffside road. They pass several ancient stone pillars. Zyll identifies them as water-watchlings. Astryx explains that water-watchers are magical stone-fey effigies that purify underground streams but dismisses these as likely just old statues. She reveals she chose this forgotten road to avoid potential pursuit from Taltus’s men.

The road ahead is washed out, forcing them to turn back. Astryx dangerously turns the wagon around on the narrow ledge with Fern terrified the cart will plunge over the cliff. After backtracking, Astryx finds a slope leading away from the road and decides to scout the new route ahead on foot. She tells Fern and Zyll to wait with the cart, dismissing Fern’s concerns about being left exposed to possible pursuers. After Astryx leaves, Zyll offers Breadlee to Fern for protection.

Fern and Breadlee talk. He mentions his previous wielder was a rattkin named Azula involved in a murder. Breadlee alerts Fern that Zyll has disappeared again. Worried, Fern asks Bucket for help finding the goblin. The horse leads her up a rise in the same direction Astryx went.

Bucket finds Zyll sitting on a high cluster of stones, gazing out over the misty river valley. Fern climbs up, initially annoyed, but the beauty of the view mesmerizes her. Looking at the vista, Fern experiences relief and feels quiet and present for the first time in a long while. She sits peacefully with Zyll for a while.

At dusk, she rouses to find Zyll and Bucket gone. She discovers Astryx has returned and was watching her from a short distance. Astryx says she is not angry and has found a new route. When Astryx asks what held Fern’s attention for so long, Fern replies that she was finally focused on the present rather than the past or future. Astryx seems faintly troubled as they walk back to the cart together.