In late afternoon, Vis leaves Villa Telimus in a plain festival toga, escorted by Septimii under Torvus, and stops at Villa Claudius to collect Aequa. Aequa, cool and dutiful, joins him despite disliking the naumachia. Vis adopts a genial, unthreatening demeanor to encourage Aequa to underestimate him and to minimize scrutiny of his movements in Caten.

As the carriage heads south, Aequa tests Vis with academic problems; he answers correctly but without flourish, masking his full capability. He worries about how Sedotia will find him amid the festival chaos. Approaching Caten, they argue lightly over the city’s greatness, then enter the crowded districts: past Esquilae and the statue of Sere, into brightly lit central streets choked with revelers, games, and Will-powered displays. Torvus halts at the congestion, gives Vis the location of their inn, and withdraws; Aequa leads Vis on foot through the press of bodies.

In the crush, Aequa abruptly outlines the public story of Caeror Telimus’s death: during the Academy Iudicium six years earlier, Caeror believed he had killed a fellow student and, unwilling to face the Sappers, threw himself from a cliff. Quintus Veridius witnessed the incident, later carried the injured student back alive, and received a Crown of the Preserver from Princeps Exesius. She adds that Ulciscor spent months publicly accusing Veridius of lying until his family forced him to stop, a feud no one has forgotten.

Processing this, Vis realizes he will be presumed to be seeking revenge at the Academy. He doubts Ulciscor’s claimed Military support and fears there may be nothing to uncover about Caeror beyond the accepted account—leaving Vis vulnerable to failure and Sapper punishment. A Transvect rushes overhead, startling Vis, before Aequa guides him into the immense flow entering the Catenan Arena, where the naumachia awaits.