In Chap­ter Three titled “Teal,” the pro­tag­o­nist reflects on her uneasy depar­ture from her father’s house, where he cru­el­ly dis­owns her, label­ing her a “whore” for seek­ing free­dom. Despite the emo­tion­al tur­moil wrought by her father’s words, she resolves to leave with mere­ly the clothes on her back. Her jour­ney begins at the train sta­tion, where she grap­ples with anx­i­ety and a lack of funds to buy a tick­et to the Mar­riage Tem­ple, which lies two cities away. The vil­lagers of For­ti­tude dis­cour­age women from seek­ing match­es with those deemed “mon­sters,” lead­ing to her iso­la­tion.

Deter­mined to escape the city, Teal boards the train with­out a tick­et, con­vinc­ing her­self that her des­per­ate cir­cum­stances are not insur­mount­able. When approached by a con­duc­tor, she admits to hav­ing no mon­ey. For­tu­nate­ly, an elder­ly woman sit­ting near­by offers to pay for her fare, express­ing her own expe­ri­ence and rein­forc­ing Teal’s hope for hap­pi­ness. The act of kind­ness from the woman mir­rors her feel­ings for her deceased moth­er, strength­en­ing Teal’s resolve.

Upon her arrival at the Tem­ple, Teal expe­ri­ences a mix­ture of hunger and fear, as her future hus­band is expect­ed the fol­low­ing day. The atten­tive ser­vants pro­vide her with care and an oint­ment for her bruis­es, sym­bols of her painful past. As she pre­pares to meet her future hus­band, anx­i­ety surges; she wor­ries about not being attrac­tive enough and ques­tions her future.

The next day brings unex­pect­ed devel­op­ments. Instead of meet­ing her hus­band, Bran­thor, she is greet­ed by Hol­ly and Kairos, her future sis­ter-in-law and broth­er-in-law, who inform her of the arrange­ments made in her absence. The priest explains that Bran­thor is not present to sign the mar­riage con­tract, rais­ing Teal’s con­cerns about her future. The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in a mix of hope and uncer­tain­ty as Teal con­tem­plates the impli­ca­tions of not meet­ing her match and decides to keep the funds giv­en to her, envi­sion­ing a new life away from her trou­bled past. Though appre­hen­sive about the future, she clings to the belief that she will not return to For­ti­tude.