Chapter 29

The protagonist awakens to discover that their family—Mah, Pah, and Haedeon—has been poisoned and died during the night. Devastated and grief-stricken, they struggle to accept the loss and resist the pressure from aides and the Creators to perform funeral rites and assume their mother's diadem.

The chapter opens with the protagonist reflecting on joyful memories from the previous night: watching Haedeon take his first flight on Allume's back and sharing a moonlit ride together between mountain peaks. This happiness is immediately shattered when they realize their family has been killed by ingested poison while they slept in the hutch cradled by Slátra's tail. The protagonist discovers Mah, Pah, and Haedeon dead, their bodies showing signs of painful deaths—bulging eyes and twisted mouths. The grief is overwhelming and paralyzing. The three dragons (Allume, Náthae, and Akkeri) sense something is wrong and keep swooping past the window, crying out and breathing flame, deepening the protagonist's anguish. Mah and Pah's aides urge the protagonist to perform funeral rites, committing the bodies back to the elements and the Creators. The protagonist resists, finding the finality unbearable and unwilling to let go. The aides also pressure them to wear their mother's diadem, which has loosened from her body. The Creators themselves are described as screaming and hissing words the protagonist doesn't understand or wish to learn. The chapter ends with the protagonist contemplating donning the diadem, drawn to the idea of following their mother toward death.