The Twelve are locked away in the Sham­bles, and the pro­tag­o­nist, still reel­ing from a pro­longed ill­ness, finds them­selves deeply con­cerned for Kel­lan and the oth­ers. After endur­ing a long peri­od of sick­ness, with Ivar pro­vid­ing much-need­ed care, the pro­tag­o­nist is final­ly able to return to the paint crew. How­ev­er, the return only unveils the grim real­i­ty of the twelve pris­on­ers, who are in des­per­ate states of phys­i­cal and men­tal decay. See­ing them in their cells, vis­i­bly bro­ken and suf­fer­ing, the pro­tag­o­nist is con­front­ed with the harsh con­se­quences of their escape. Kellan’s reac­tion is par­tic­u­lar­ly strik­ing, as he greets the pro­tag­o­nist with a vis­i­ble sense of guilt, which speaks to the deep cama­raderie forged between them in the shared suf­fer­ing of their ordeal. Kel­lan then recounts a painful jour­ney that took him to what seemed like a safe haven, only for it to fall apart when he encoun­tered betray­al from Tom Skint. This moment of per­son­al reck­on­ing marks a sig­nif­i­cant shift for Kel­lan, as his dis­il­lu­sion­ment with the world grows deep­er, fur­ther com­pound­ing his inter­nal strug­gle.

As a storm looms on the hori­zon, the already grim atmos­phere turns even dark­er. Wer­ryck, in a cru­el dis­play of pow­er, enacts a pun­ish­ment for the twelve by con­struct­ing a small, con­fin­ing cage in which they are forced to remain. The ten­sion becomes pal­pa­ble as the crew, their atten­tion drawn to the cage, help­less­ly watch­es the twelve being shack­led in their mis­ery. This moment serves as a dis­turb­ing reminder of the dehu­man­iza­tion that the pris­on­ers are endur­ing, their suf­fer­ing becom­ing noth­ing more than a spec­ta­cle for those in con­trol. Among them, Kellan’s emo­tion­al scars run deep, marked by the trau­ma inflict­ed by the com­pli­ance treat­ment. His out­ward loy­al­ty to the cap­tors is noth­ing but a painful mask, forced upon him by the cru­el­ty of his envi­ron­ment. The pro­tag­o­nist, wit­ness­ing this twist­ed show of pow­er, is left with a heavy heart, real­iz­ing how deeply the sys­tem has bro­ken the will of these men.

The chap­ter takes a philo­soph­i­cal turn as the pro­tag­o­nist engages in a con­ver­sa­tion with Wer­ryck, plead­ing for the human­i­ty of the twelve despite Werryck’s chill­ing­ly ratio­nal expla­na­tions. The dis­cus­sion reveals a stark ide­o­log­i­cal divide, with Wer­ryck defend­ing the pris­on­ers’ suf­fer­ing as some­thing they brought upon them­selves, based on the con­tracts that bound them to their fate. This ratio­nal­iza­tion serves as a shield for Wer­ryck, as he dis­miss­es the very idea of com­pas­sion, see­ing the suf­fer­ing as an inevitable con­se­quence of the choic­es made. The pro­tag­o­nist, how­ev­er, rejects this view, hold­ing on to the belief that the twelve deserve more than to be treat­ed as expend­able, their lives reduced to mere con­trac­tu­al oblig­a­tions. This exchange high­lights the moral divide between the two, with the pro­tag­o­nist des­per­ate­ly cling­ing to an eth­i­cal stand­point root­ed in empa­thy and com­pas­sion, while Wer­ryck rep­re­sents a cold­er, more util­i­tar­i­an view of the world. The ten­sion between them cap­tures the broad­er con­flict of pow­er, con­trol, and moral respon­si­bil­i­ty that runs through­out the sto­ry.

As night falls, the atmos­phere grows even heav­ier with despair, set­tling over the pro­tag­o­nist and the twelve. The pro­tag­o­nist is forced to play music for Wer­ryck, using the hymns as a means to nav­i­gate through the build­ing ten­sion. The music, filled with themes of loss and yearn­ing, per­me­ates the air, cre­at­ing a poignant con­trast to the sur­round­ing dark­ness and suf­fer­ing. The pro­tag­o­nist, absorbed in the haunt­ing notes, finds solace in the act of play­ing, even though it is done under duress. In the still­ness that fol­lows, sur­round­ed by the storm’s fury, the pro­tag­o­nist reflects on the trag­ic fate of those on the raft, real­iz­ing the shared suf­fer­ing that binds them all. This moment of intro­spec­tion leads to a deep acknowl­edg­ment of the col­lec­tive fate that awaits them, high­light­ing the inevitabil­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion. Despite the over­whelm­ing despair, a glim­mer of hope remains, as the pro­tag­o­nist, through their music, express­es a qui­et defi­ance against the oppres­sive forces around them. The chap­ter con­cludes with the protagonist’s real­iza­tion that while they may be trapped in the storm, both lit­er­al­ly and fig­u­ra­tive­ly, their resilience remains intact. The act of play­ing music for those in the Sham­bles becomes a sym­bol of endurance, a reminder that even in the dark­est moments, the human spir­it has the capac­i­ty to rise above adver­si­ty. This clos­ing thought encap­su­lates the heart of the chap­ter: the pow­er of hope and resilience in the face of seem­ing­ly insur­mount­able odds.