Nes­ryn and Prince Sar­taq are caught in a vio­lent storm while tra­vers­ing the north­ern Asim­il Moun­tains. Shel­ter­ing beneath a rocky over­hang, they endure freez­ing rain and howl­ing winds, with Sar­taq’s ruk, Kadara, act­ing as a pro­tec­tive bar­ri­er. Despite her thick ruk leathers and wool blan­ket, Nes­ryn suf­fers from the cold, her teeth chat­ter­ing uncon­trol­lably. The stor­m’s inten­si­ty forces them to hud­dle togeth­er, high­light­ing the harsh con­di­tions of their jour­ney and the resilience required to sur­vive in such an unfor­giv­ing envi­ron­ment.

As the storm rages, Nes­ryn reflects on her aver­sion to mag­ic, even before its dis­ap­pear­ance from the world. She has always relied on phys­i­cal skills like archery and swords­man­ship, believ­ing steel more depend­able than mag­ic. How­ev­er, the extreme cold makes her yearn for warmth, even fan­ta­siz­ing about Aelin Galathynius, the Fire-Bringer, arriv­ing to aid them. Nes­ryn spec­u­lates about Aelin’s where­abouts, won­der­ing if her dis­ap­pear­ance is due to Morath’s schemes or her own strate­gic plan­ning. She admires Aelin’s abil­i­ty to con­ceal her long-term plans, a trait she finds both impres­sive and reas­sur­ing.

After hours of endur­ing the storm, they final­ly resume their jour­ney, though the damp sad­dle makes for an uncom­fort­able ride. Forced to camp overnight in a copse of trees, Nes­ryn grap­ples with lin­ger­ing cold and dis­com­fort, real­iz­ing how lit­tle she knows about Sar­taq despite their shared mis­sion. The prince’s kind­ness, offer­ing his blan­kets and clothes, con­trasts with her grow­ing unease about their unfa­mil­iar­i­ty. Nes­ryn ques­tions her deci­sion to accom­pa­ny him, even as she acknowl­edges the impor­tance of their alliance against the loom­ing threat of Morath.

The next day, they con­tin­ue their flight toward the Tavan Moun­tains, with Sar­taq point­ing out the his­tor­i­cal con­nec­tion between the rukhin and the Darghan horse-lords. He explains how their shared past influ­ences their mil­i­tary strate­gies, blend­ing aer­i­al and ground forces. Nes­ryn probes about Sar­taq’s wartime expe­ri­ences, to which he responds with a grim reminder of his father’s ruth­less rule. The con­ver­sa­tion leaves her unset­tled, under­scor­ing the high stakes of their mis­sion and the bru­tal real­i­ties of the empire they seek to unite against a com­mon ene­my.