Chapter 57

The narrator describes a new routine that has developed with Kaan Vaegor, the King's eldest son. After a painful first fighting lesson with Veya, the narrator discovers Kaan guarding Slátra's hutch and enforcing a rule that she must eat before accessing her dragon, establishing a nightly ritual of shared meals and music that confuses and unsettles her.

The narrator, still adjusting to life in the Imperial Stronghold, completes her first fighting lesson with Veya under Dhomm's harsh sun. Upon returning to Slátra's hutch, she finds it locked and guarded by Kaan Vaegor, the King's eldest son, who sits playing a three-stringed emberwood instrument. When she attempts to take the key to the hutch, Kaan restrains her and insists she eat first from a meal tray. Frustrated by his authority (noting that with his father away, she lives under Kaan's rules) but desperate to reach Slátra, she reluctantly consumes the rich, spicy stew too quickly, becoming ill. Upon her return from the privy, the door is unlocked and Kaan is gone. The following night, Kaan repeats the ritual with a milder, more palatable stew flavored with jumplin bulb and frostfruit, along with colk milk to soothe her stomach. This pattern continues nightly: the narrator eats while Kaan plays his instrument, then receives the key to visit Slátra. She finds herself growing accustomed to and even anticipating these encounters, though she remains confused by Kaan's motives and her own emerging attachment to the routine.