In Chap­ter Six­teen, titled “Teal,” the pro­tag­o­nist is feel­ing over­whelmed in the bustling town of Moss­dale. Sur­round­ed by friend­ly faces eager to learn about her, Teal yearns for soli­tude to process her com­pli­cat­ed emo­tions regard­ing Bran­thor, who has refused to sign their mar­riage con­tract. The cheer­ful towns­folk’s excite­ment con­trasts sharply with Teal’s inner tur­moil, as she grap­ples with feel­ings of rejec­tion and a grow­ing sense of uncer­tain­ty about stay­ing in Moss­dale. Despite her desire for inde­pen­dence, she finds her­self still long­ing for Bran­thor, con­fused by his accu­sa­tions that her actions were manip­u­la­tive.

In search of peace, Teal evades the crowd by slip­ping behind the hous­es and head­ing towards the moun­tains, where the fresh air and tran­quil­i­ty soothe her. She dis­cov­ers a large rock where she can lie and breathe in the nat­ur­al beau­ty around her, a stark con­trast to the pol­lut­ed envi­ron­ment of For­ti­tude. As she explores, she stum­bles upon the mouth of a cave, poten­tial­ly the Thun­der­ing Caves Bran­thor had men­tioned. Drawn by curios­i­ty, Teal steps inside, hop­ing to con­nect with the space that holds mean­ing for Bran­thor.

While explor­ing the cave, Teal reflects on her feel­ings and the nature of her rela­tion­ship with Bran­thor. Despite the chill inside, she finds solace in the quiet­ness, wish­ing to uncov­er secrets with­in the cave that could con­vince Bran­thor of their love. How­ev­er, thoughts of being accused of manip­u­la­tion weigh heav­i­ly on her heart. After spend­ing what feels like an hour in con­tem­pla­tion, she begins to feel reju­ve­nat­ed but is soon star­tled by the sounds of foot­steps in the for­est.

Before she can react, Teal is seized from behind by her broth­ers, who cov­er her mouth and abduct her, insist­ing they are sav­ing her from the giants. Despite their claims of love, Teal feels trapped and views their actions as a betray­al. The chap­ter clos­es with her despair as she won­ders about Bran­thor’s absence and fears that their con­nec­tion has been sev­ered for good.