Chaol, now with­out his brace, is giv­en a tem­pera­men­tal black mare named Farasha for a desert-bound jour­ney. Despite her name mean­ing “but­ter­fly,” the horse is fierce and rebel­lious, test­ing Chaol’s lim­its from the start. He sus­pects the roy­als inten­tion­al­ly gave him a chal­leng­ing horse but refus­es to request a gen­tler one, deter­mined not to show weak­ness. Yrene, his com­pan­ion, observes the horse’s behav­ior with con­cern while rid­ing her own chest­nut mare, both hors­es beau­ti­ful but not as stun­ning as the Aste­r­i­on stal­lion Chaol once received from Dorian—a bit­ter­sweet reminder of a past life.

The chap­ter delves into Chaol’s reflec­tions on his lost stal­lion, left unnamed and like­ly lost to the chaos of war. He won­ders if Farasha sens­es his guilt over for­get­ting the noble horse and resents him for it. Princess Hasar, lead­ing the expe­di­tion, boasts about the Muniqi breed’s Fae ances­try and their adap­ta­tion to desert cli­mates, high­light­ing their speed and unique fea­tures like the *jib­bah*, a sinus bulge aid­ing their sur­vival. Yrene remains neu­tral dur­ing Hasar’s lec­ture, focus­ing on prac­ti­cal prepa­ra­tions while Chaol admires her appearance—elegant in white and gold desert attire.

The group sets off through Anti­ca’s bustling streets, slowed by nar­row paths and the oppres­sive heat. Hasar, impa­tient to show­case her rid­ing skills, curs­es the delays, while Chaol strug­gles to con­trol Farasha, who snaps at bystanders. Yrene points out the city’s aque­ducts and gar­dens, rem­nants of a con­queror who cher­ished the land. As they exit the city, Hasar and oth­ers race ahead, leav­ing Chaol and Yrene with a slow­er group. The reck­less rid­ing of some nobles dam­ages the scrub­land, spark­ing Chaol’s dis­ap­proval.

Ascend­ing a rocky hill, the group pre­pares to water their hors­es before cross­ing the dunes. Chaol notices the care­less dam­age left by pre­vi­ous rid­ers, includ­ing blood­ied bush­es, and dis­ap­proves of their reck­less­ness. The chap­ter ends with a sense of antic­i­pa­tion as the remain­ing rid­ers approach the clif­f’s edge, their com­pan­ions seem­ing­ly van­ish­ing into the hori­zon. The jour­ney under­scores themes of resilience, mem­o­ry, and the con­trast between Chaol’s dis­ci­plined nature and the roy­als’ indul­gent reck­less­ness.