The chap­ter delves into Lin­den Avery’s strug­gles with the impli­ca­tions of her pres­ence in the Land and the mys­ter­ies sur­round­ing wild mag­ic. After a night of lit­tle sleep, Lin­den and the Giants dis­cuss the Sand­gor­gons’ actions and the nature of death between worlds. Lin­den admits she can­not ful­ly explain how she, Jere­mi­ah, and Roger tran­si­tioned to the Land, only that their exis­tence there seems per­ma­nent until death. The con­ver­sa­tion shifts to his­tor­i­cal par­al­lels, as Stave recounts the tale of Hile Troy, a man from Linden’s world who became the Fore­stal Caer-Cav­er­al, sug­gest­ing that Joan’s wild mag­ic might offer Lin­den a way to remain in the Land and save her son.

Stave’s nar­ra­tive pro­vides hope but also under­scores the uncer­tain­ty of their sit­u­a­tion. The Giants acknowl­edge the com­plex­i­ty of inter­di­men­sion­al mag­ic, though their imme­di­ate con­cern is the threat of Kaste­nessen and his skurj. Cold­spray warns of the dan­gers ahead, empha­siz­ing the urgency of reach­ing Ande­lain to secure High Lord Loric’s krill, a poten­tial key to coun­ter­ing Kastenessen’s forces. The com­pa­ny faces not only exter­nal threats but also inter­nal strife, as Longwrath’s unpre­dictable vio­lence demands con­stant vig­i­lance. The Giants ral­ly around Lin­den, rec­og­niz­ing that her pos­ses­sion of Covenant’s white gold ring may be their only hope.

Lin­den reveals Covenant’s ring, acknowl­edg­ing her fraught rela­tion­ship with its pow­er. She admits her fear of wield­ing wild mag­ic, cit­ing its uncon­trol­lable nature and her own inad­e­qua­cy to har­ness it ful­ly. Despite her past suc­cess­es, she feels con­strained by the antithe­sis between Law and wild mag­ic, as well as her phys­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions. Her health-sense rein­forces her vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, leav­ing her uncer­tain of her abil­i­ty to con­front Joan or Kaste­nessen. The chap­ter high­lights her inter­nal con­flict, torn between her respon­si­bil­i­ty to the Land and her fear of the ring’s destruc­tive poten­tial.

The dis­cus­sion cul­mi­nates in a sober acknowl­edg­ment of the chal­lenges ahead. Linden’s com­pan­ions, though sup­port­ive, rec­og­nize the pre­car­i­ous­ness of their mis­sion. The Giants’ leader, Cold­spray, under­scores the neces­si­ty of rely­ing on wild mag­ic despite its risks, as con­ven­tion­al means may not suf­fice against their foes. Linden’s unre­solved ten­sion with Esmer and her lin­ger­ing doubts about her right to wield the ring add lay­ers of com­plex­i­ty to her jour­ney. The chap­ter sets the stage for a des­per­ate strug­gle, blend­ing hope with exis­ten­tial dread as the com­pa­ny pre­pares to face Kastenessen’s onslaught.