Kiela, a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, discovers that the library has been set on fire by revolutionaries. She and her assistant, Caz, an animate spider plant, have spent the past week preparing for such an outcome by moving valuable spellbooks into boats for evacuation, though she didn’t believe that violence would ever come there. Forced to flee, Kiela and Caz take one of the boats away from the uprising. Once out on the ocean, Kiela relaxes and enjoys the sight of merhorses nearby. Caz, however, is anxious about plant-eating fish. They make their way to Kiela’s home island of Caltrey. She and her family left when she was very young, but she still owns her family’s cottage there.

They dock the boat on the island and find Kiela’s run-down, abandoned cottage. In the morning, a man enters and terrifies Kiela. She explains that she owns the cottage and isn’t an intruder. The man relaxes and introduces himself as Larran. He offers to help her move in, but Kiela declines.