After their conversation with Hatha, about an hour after Sending, Ward receives a message from Cecily: "Ward, it's good to hear from you. Heart is a crystal with a guy attached to it. Stole it."

The group is discussing potential team compositions when Uncounted Shadows approaches Hotha with a wagon. He asks if she would be willing to test the newcomers, which she agrees to. After a fight in which she summons various wraiths of the realm to fight for her, she declares that they have passed their exam and should be allowed to participate in the tournament.

After resting, the group headed off to find Narci, one of their potential opponents who sings as her weapon. They locate her on the ship she resides in, the Joy of Erebos. She sings in an unfamiliar language, figures like constellations dancing about her. A thief slides down a pile of gold as a dragon pursues, dodging and weaving through a structure. The image vanishes as she notices the party; her bodyguard also emerges from the shadows, concerned about a group of four approaching a "single young girl." Narci calms her friend, Thea, and welcome the group warmly. She and Vera talk for some time, Narci singing a song for them telling the story of Okogachi and the Spirit War—Spirits of the North, South, East, and West are betrayed by the spirits of night, but the dragon Okogachi defeats the night spirits and reunifies the others.

In the meantime, Ward contemplates the Juice that has affected him, causing him to feel more in tune with things and affecting his magic. He also inspects one of the lamps, finding that it is not the light itself that is holding the creatures at bay. He puts the lanturn in his lute case to inspect further elsewhere. He then casts Sending to Cecily, telling her that they had heard about what happened when Cecily was there, but that that isn't their concern right now, but they need more information about how she used the heart against Casitus. Twenty minutes later, he receives the reply: "I don't know how it works. I just negociated for our release. It seemed—delicate isn't the right word. It was threatening to him. I don't know, I'm not a wi—" He attempts to thank her, but the spell fails.

Introduced

• Narci
• Anikthea "Thea"

Returning

• Hotha
• Uncounted Shadows
• Cecily Cardew
(via Sending)

Mentioned

• Casitus Jerrick
• Dihada