Vis watches another round of failed Labyrinth runs, reflecting on his father’s belief that lies erode the self. Eidhin joins him unannounced and bluntly asks—in Cymrian—if Vis killed someone the previous night. Startled, Vis denies it and explains the blood was his from climbing the wall. He thanks Eidhin for covering for him, and Eidhin’s disdain for the Praeceptors briefly surfaces.

The two speak in Cymrian about language and heritage. Vis shares that a Cymrian tutor, Cullen, taught him, momentarily softening Eidhin before he shuts down when asked about family. Driven by the need to unburden himself and to gain leverage, Vis describes the excavation east of the Academy: glowing Vetusian script, schematics of the Labyrinth’s control bracer, a projected map, and eyeless bodies impaled on obsidian blades. Vis pointedly omits that the corpses seemed to speak.

Eidhin asks why Vis was there; Vis cites a Military directive and frames it as survival. Eidhin extracts a debt in return for his silence: Vis must help him learn Common, and Vis must tell no one else. Vis agrees, recognizing the mutual risk and the value in Eidhin’s secrecy.

When Dultatis confronts them after the session, Eidhin unleashes a string of Cymrian insults while Vis translates them as polite, innocuous statements. Dultatis suspects mockery but cannot prove it before onlookers. Afterward, Vis proposes evening lessons, but Eidhin defers heavy study until Vis’s punishment ends; they commit to nightly meetings after the Festival of the Ancestors. Eidhin admits the day was “not such a bad day,” and Vis leaves buoyed by their nascent rapport.