Praeceptor Scitus welcomes Vis to Class Four but immediately sets conditions: Vis must integrate with his cohort by eating and studying with them, or be sent back to Five. Vis pushes back on abandoning his evening commitment to tutor Eidhin, arguing loyalty matters for future senators. Scitus relents, warning that continued tutoring cannot excuse any shortfall.

At dinner, Vis leaves Callidus to join the Fourths and approaches with a measured, disarming openness. Axien greets him and the class—Aequa, Cassia, Ava, Valentina, Felix, Lucius, Marcellus, Atticus, Tem, and Titus—makes cautious introductions. Conversation turns to Vis’s rapid promotion, his Amotus skill from fighting in the Victorum, and the Labyrinth. The group’s social splits are evident, with Military-family students most receptive. Aequa notes she and Vis will be paired next Labyrinth run due to rankings, giving them time to devise a code. The meal ends with Vis having earned tentative acceptance and Scitus’s approving nod.

Vis moves into the upgraded Class Four quarters, gaining a private room that eases the risks of any nocturnal activities. He then meets Eidhin in the nearly empty Bibliotheca to continue their nightly Common lessons. Eidhin’s progress is evident; earlier he publicly corrected Dultatis’s Common twice in front of Taedia, which soured Dultatis’s mood. Their study session reinforces Vis’s view that Eidhin belongs in a higher class.

When Vis mentions Scitus’s integration mandate, Eidhin cautions him about the Hierarchy’s method of reshaping people through small, incremental compromises, urging each man to set a line he will not cross. The warning resonates with Vis. Eidhin then reveals that on Vis’s first day, Principalis Veridius suggested Eidhin publicly knock down Callidus to satisfy those targeting Callidus’s father and hinted at help with a prior problem—confirming manipulation behind the initial conflict that marred Vis’s arrival.

As they walk back, Eidhin confides a darker truth: before the Academy he spent almost a year in a Sapper because he killed three Praetorians. He offers to release Vis from any obligation. Vis refuses, affirming their friendship and continued tutoring. Eidhin departs with a rare, fleeting smile, while Vis carries the implications of Scitus’s expectations, Veridius’s interference, and Eidhin’s past into the competitive realities of Class Four.