When they disembark from the ferry, Byx is overwhelmed by the number of different creatures she sees walking casually through the city streets. Because the city is very crowded, Khara believes that something unusual is happening. She takes them to a large courtyard where she slips away to change into a dress, claiming that because women are treated differently in Cora di Schola, there is no reason for her to pretend to be a boy. She then takes them to a crowded bar where she speaks to a man who knows her. The man tells Khara that he cannot get her a room because all the available rooms are booked. He says there is to be a eumony, a funeral of sorts, for the species of dairnes because the Murdano’s seer, Araktik, has declared dairnes to be extinct. Byx overhears this and is devastated.

Khara’s friend eventually finds a stable where the three travelers can put Vallino and spend the night. He also brings them food. Tobble and Khara attempt to cheer Byx up, but she struggles to find a reason to be optimistic. Khara points out that the eumony is premature because Byx is still alive, so there’s a possibility that there are other dairnes still alive that no one knows about.