Chap­ter 3 begins with Teal con­tem­plat­ing her painful depar­ture from her father’s house, where she faced his harsh rejec­tion. In an attempt to shame her for want­i­ng free­dom, her father calls her a “whore,” his words ring­ing in her ears as she walks away from every­thing she has ever known. Despite the deep emo­tion­al pain his rejec­tion caus­es, Teal decides she will not allow her­self to be defined by his cru­el­ty. She leaves with noth­ing but the clothes she is wear­ing, mak­ing a silent vow to nev­er return. Her jour­ney begins at the train sta­tion, where her mind is filled with anx­i­ety and uncer­tain­ty. With no mon­ey to pur­chase a tick­et to the Mar­riage Tem­ple, which is locat­ed two cities away, Teal feels trapped by her cir­cum­stances. The vil­lagers from For­ti­tude, where she grew up, had long dis­cour­aged women from seek­ing match­es with those con­sid­ered “mon­sters,” fur­ther iso­lat­ing her from the rest of the world. These social pres­sures and judg­ments only add to her sense of aban­don­ment, yet she is deter­mined to con­tin­ue.

Fueled by her desire to escape and find a new life, Teal boards the train with­out a tick­et, her heart pound­ing in her chest. When the con­duc­tor con­fronts her about her lack of fare, she admits to her sit­u­a­tion. How­ev­er, to her sur­prise, an elder­ly woman sit­ting near­by over­hears and offers to pay for her tick­et. The woman shares her own sto­ry, explain­ing that she once too had been in a des­per­ate sit­u­a­tion and found solace in kind­ness. Her act of gen­eros­i­ty res­onates deeply with Teal, remind­ing her of the warmth her moth­er once pro­vid­ed before her untime­ly death. This moment of con­nec­tion helps restore some of Teal’s hope, allow­ing her to believe that despite the hard­ships she’s faced, there is still kind­ness in the world, and per­haps, still hope for a bet­ter future.

Upon her arrival at the Mar­riage Tem­ple, Teal is over­whelmed by a mix­ture of hunger, fear, and uncer­tain­ty. She anx­ious­ly pre­pares for the next day when she is to meet her future hus­band, but the thought of what lies ahead fills her with dread. The ser­vants at the Tem­ple treat her with care, offer­ing her sooth­ing oint­ment for the bruis­es on her skin—a reminder of the painful past she is try­ing to leave behind. Despite their kind­ness, anx­i­ety churns with­in her. She wor­ries that she may not be attrac­tive enough for her future hus­band and begins ques­tion­ing what her life will look like in the days to come. The fear of rejec­tion, the weight of her past, and the uncer­tain­ty of the future all col­lide as she faces the unknown. Her jour­ney toward this new life is fraught with ten­sion, and she can’t help but won­der if she is tru­ly ready for what’s to come.

The fol­low­ing day, instead of meet­ing Bran­thor, her intend­ed hus­band, Teal is greet­ed by Hol­ly and Kairos, her future sis­ter-in-law and broth­er-in-law. They explain that Bran­thor is not present to sign the mar­riage con­tract, a sit­u­a­tion that leaves Teal uncer­tain about her future. The priest’s words add to her grow­ing anx­i­ety as he reveals that Bran­thor has yet to arrive. The sit­u­a­tion feels more com­pli­cat­ed than Teal had antic­i­pat­ed, and she is left won­der­ing whether this mar­riage, which she had so des­per­ate­ly hoped for, will ever come to fruition. This sud­den shift forces Teal to con­front the real­i­ty that her future is far from secure. After learn­ing that her hus­band-to-be is not com­ing, Teal decides to keep the mon­ey that was giv­en to her, sym­bol­iz­ing a small vic­to­ry over the uncer­tain­ty of her cir­cum­stances. She begins to imag­ine a life for her­self out­side the con­fines of her trou­bled past in For­ti­tude, pic­tur­ing a future where she doesn’t have to rely on any­one or any­thing but her own resolve. Though uncer­tain­ty looms over her, she clings to the belief that she will not return to the life she left behind, no mat­ter the chal­lenges ahead.

This chap­ter rep­re­sents a piv­otal moment in Teal’s jour­ney, high­light­ing her resilience in the face of adver­si­ty. Her inter­nal strug­gles are laid bare as she faces the harsh real­i­ties of her past and the uncer­tain­ty of her future. Yet, amid the tur­moil, Teal finds moments of hope, fueled by the unex­pect­ed kind­ness of strangers and her deter­mi­na­tion to carve out a life for her­self. Through these small ges­tures, read­ers wit­ness the begin­ning of Teal’s trans­for­ma­tion, as she starts to shed the con­straints of her upbring­ing and imag­ine a life full of pos­si­bil­i­ties. This chap­ter serves as a reminder of the strength found in moments of kind­ness, the pow­er of self-deter­mi­na­tion, and the impor­tance of forg­ing ahead even when the path ahead is unclear. Teal’s jour­ney is one of self-dis­cov­ery, and through her expe­ri­ences, she shows that despite the weight of past strug­gles, there is always a chance for a fresh start.