Lin­den Avery enters Rev­el­stone, the ancient fortress of the Land, bur­dened by exhaus­tion and the encroach­ing blind­ness caused by Kevin’s Dirt. Though famil­iar with the fore­hall from past strug­gles, she now finds it dark and dis­ori­ent­ing, con­trast­ing with the acute sens­es of the Haruchai Mas­ters. The Staff of Law in her hands offers some solace, sus­tain­ing her fad­ing per­cip­i­ence. As the gates close against the pur­su­ing Demondim horde, she fears the impend­ing threat of the Illearth Stone and the Keep’s vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty due to the Mas­ters’ rejec­tion of Earth­pow­er and lore.

Amid the crowd­ed fore­hall, Lin­den assess­es her com­pan­ions’ injuries. Stave and Bha­pa require imme­di­ate heal­ing, while Mahrti­ir and Pah­ni tend to their Rany­hyn. The Mas­ters, though wound­ed, have suf­fered few­er loss­es than expect­ed. Lin­den, reluc­tant to dis­mount from Hyn, sum­mons fire from the Staff to illu­mi­nate the hall, reveal­ing the toll of the bat­tle. She reflects on the sac­ri­fices made—dozens of Haruchai dead—and feels over­whelmed by the blood­shed. Despite her fatigue, she focus­es on heal­ing Stave, Bha­pa, and the Rany­hyn, her actions met with silent rev­er­ence from the gath­ered crowd.

A Mas­ter named Hand­ir, the Voice of the Mas­ters, approach­es Lin­den, acknowl­edg­ing her as the Cho­sen and wel­com­ing her to Rev­el­stone. How­ev­er, Lin­den, pushed to her lim­its, responds with frus­tra­tion, demand­ing light to dis­pel the oppres­sive dark­ness. Mahrti­ir echoes her plea, invok­ing her sta­tus as Ringth­ane. Even­tu­al­ly, torch­es are lit, cast­ing flick­er­ing shad­ows across the hall. Linden’s thoughts drift to the Mas­ters’ dwin­dling num­bers and their abil­i­ty to defend Rev­el­stone against the Demondim, while Liand watch­es her with con­cern.

The chap­ter under­scores Linden’s inter­nal and exter­nal struggles—her exhaus­tion, her defi­ance of the Mas­ters, and her deter­mi­na­tion to pro­tect her com­pan­ions despite their pre­car­i­ous sit­u­a­tion. The ten­sion between her and the Haruchai lingers, as does her fear of their inten­tions toward Anele and her­self. The flick­er­ing torch­light sym­bol­izes the uncer­tain future of Rev­el­stone and the Land, with Lin­den poised at the cen­ter of the loom­ing con­flict.