Evar, bloodied, grapples Clovis as she lunges for Livira, and he shouts for Livira to run. Livira dives through her pool and tumbles back into the library, terrified the sabber might follow—then remembers any follower would be a harmless ghost. Overwhelmed, she breaks down and screams into the stacks.

Arpix arrives and finds Livira bleeding from a torn calf. Suspicious after the Exchange’s deceptions, Livira briefly questions if Arpix is truly himself before letting him clean the wound. He reveals a stack of long-sought books he acquired by asking assistants through portals and suggests leaving them hidden by the gateway for now.

They hobble toward the center circle. Livira deflects questions, then admits the truth: Evar is a sabber. She grapples with revulsion and grief, noting that “sabber” means “enemy” on both sides and that her memories of a sabber raid keep colliding with her feelings for Evar.

In the circle, Livira’s wound knits. To steady herself, she writes on a flyleaf, recasting her Evar-stories while mourning the imagined life she had authored with him. The physical healing only sharpens the emotional pain as she realizes how much she had invested in those hopes.

Afterward, Livira explains the mechanism: the Exchange shaped sight and speech so each saw the other as their own kind; Clovis, seeking a fight, saw the real human Livira. Accepting that sabber ghosts may be listening unseen, they choose to withdraw, leaving the books by the portal. Livira feels too raw to read and wants only darkness and distance.