It's been a week since the Saviours of Salvation arrived in Sharn. During this time, Glayder and Arishtava go to the theatre on a totally-not-date, Isabelle works on a device to reduce mark recoil with Ari and Glayder's help, Khetari spends most of her time shopping and sightseeing around the city, and Elloven hits the gym to continue training. They're eventually called back to see Flamewind in Morgrave University again, and Isabelle immediately melts the sphinx with scritches, before she can even relay her findings.
Once she is no longer reverting to cat, Flamewind explains that she has deciphered the Oracle of War's Prophecy verse: the "dark lanterns" are actually the King's Dark Lanterns, Breland's secret service, and the "silver torch" is the Silver Torch of Thrane. The "King in Green" is Kor ir'Wynarn (as Brelish royalty tend to wear green sashes), riding a "bolt of steel" or lightning rail north towards Flamekeep. She is afraid a war might break out, and asks the group to confirm her suspicions and hopefully preserve the peace by attending the Armistice Day Ball in Wroat. This is backed up by a second verse she uncovered: "The dog of war dances on water by the light of the silver torch". As the ball will be held on a river galleon, it makes sense that there might be a "dog of war" operating undercover there.
Thanks to Aliza's help, the group's passage on the overnight lightning rail to Wroat has already been paid for. Isabelle drags everyone into a private study room and warns them to be careful, as the nobility and Dragonmarked Houses don't get along very well, and it's even worse for aberrants like almost all of them. After an overdramatic goodbye to Ari, Glayder asks Whist for help with hiding her mark during the ball, and the changeling agrees to meet her in Wroat. Khetari gets a set of fancy gloves to hide her mark, and Elloven doesn't need to do anything, as his is naturally well-hidden. Isabelle gets a long sleeved cardigan to cover her shoulder.
On the train, the party meets Jovi ir'Graccen, a noble from Sharn who's also attending the ball, in the dining car. He treats them to dinner and lets them know what to expect, reassuring them that Glayder's rank in the Cyran military will be enough to get all of them in as her guests. He also mentions that the royal archmage herself, Narcy of Xandrar, will be working security, and promises to introduce everyone to some other noble guests at the ball.
After dinner, Isabelle spots two bald half-elves, one in red and the other in black, watching the group from a distance. She thinks back on Ivelo d'Medani's warning and heads up to chat with them. They claim to be acrobats, en route to a performance at the King's Theatre, but she obviously knows this is false and goes to alert the rest of the party. As they settle in to sleep, though, one of the "acrobats" stabs her through the chest, instantly knocking her unconscious.
What follows is a bloody, brutal fight, in which almost everyone in the party nearly dies at least once. Isabelle realises, as one of the assassins' blades runs her straight through the gut, that she should have died, but they wanted her alive for some reason. She feels dizzy from the wyvern poison coursing through her blood. One assassin is knocked out by Elloven, but Glayder kills the other in blind rage. When the combat is over, a few terrified patrons call over the train's conductor, Aliza d'Orien -- who Glayder is surprised to see here, for some reason. The Orien heir takes in the unconscious assassin for questioning, and agrees to dispose of the other one's body, nearly writing Glayder off as a murderer but dropping the charge due to it being in self-defence.
Everyone finally manages to fall asleep, and the train pulls into Wroat the next morning. Isabelle makes a beeline for the local Jorasco hospital, where the doctor confirms that the wound should have killed her, but her attackers deliberately wanted her alive. She then joins Elloven in scoping out the Montulet, the galleon where the ball is set to take place. They meet Dorian, a servant boy who's busy setting up for the ball, and quickly befriend him. They also get a general idea of the schedule and itinerary of events, as well as the layout of the ship.
Meanwhile, Khetari and Glayder wander around the city while waiting for Whist, stopping for brunch at an upscale restaurant where they meet Cesaria and Tybalt ir'Starn. Glayder introduces herself while asking out Cesaria to the ball, but is gently turned down as the noblewoman seems to already have a date tonight. Tybalt seems overly protective of Cesaria, to the point where she's almost afraid to speak freely. Khetari remembers that the ir'Starn family is one of the most prominent in Breland, and that these two are actually the governor of Wroat's children. Tybalt winks approvingly at her, remarking that she really does know her history, and she winks back without realising what a bad idea this is. Glayder disapproves of her attempts to flirt back at Tybalt, and promises to find her a better date tonight, but stops once she discovers Khetari's secret feelings for Elloven.
By now, it's time to line up for the ball. The group gets aboard the ship, where a funky little gnome conducts a funky little mechanical orchestra, and nobles and officers in fancy clothes mingle and rub elbows. They spot Jovi waving to them, and he offers to introduce them to a few other guests, starting with Mercutia ir'Gontarli -- who he describes as "friendly and fun, but a bit shallow at times". Isabelle heads over to talk to her, and is taken aback by her cheery attitude and eagerness to compliment her.
Meanwhile, Glayder finds Cesaria alone by the edge of the ship. She asks about her date, and the noblewoman points out a plainly clothed man on the other side of the ship, but warns Glayder that they're keeping the relationship a secret. Glayder talks to him anyways, and he introduces himself as Olivier ir'Volett, a relatively minor noble -- it's obvious now why Tybalt disapproves of the two being together. He seems shy and uncomfortable with being here, but very pleasant and friendly despite this.
Glayder then rejoins Isabelle in talking to Mercutia, who mentions that a poetry recital by Tybalt is about to start. As the noble voices her complaints about the glorification of the Last War and the destruction caused in it, Glayder seems instantly enraptured, and hangs onto every word of the anti-war-poetry ramble that soon follows while the recital takes place. Isabelle and Khetari notice Cesaria sneaking away from the recital crowd towards a back room of the ship, and Glayder shoots her a concerned glance before returning to Mercutia's side. Isabelle, noticing this, stealthily follows after Cesaria to see what she's up to.
Cesaria enters the captain's office, pull out a piece of paper from the desk, and begin writing on it. At a first glance it appears to be a business letter discussing trade routes, but Isabelle notices strange splotches of red ink on some of the words, highlighting a coded message: "My love, I fear for your safety. You could be killed. She is a spy but so are you. I leave when the fireworks go off. Orsino, my love, come with me." Naturally concerned, Isabelle clears her throat to get Cesaria's attention, and attempts to calm the terrified noblewoman down after a nervous breakdown. Cesaria reveals that her boyfriend, Olivier, is secretly a Thranish spy set to kill a member of the King's Dark Lanterns at this ball, but she doesn't think she can love a murderer. She asks for Isabelle to help them escape.
Isabelle brings Cesaria back out to talk to the rest of the party and catch them up on everything. Cesaria reveals that the spy to be killed is actually Mercutia, much to Glayder's shock and disappointment, and the group pretty much universally agrees to create a distraction so Tybalt won't stop the couple from eloping. Glayder and Khetari go to let Olivier know about this, and the spy reveals that he's having second thoughts about abandoning his mission -- he was told that killing Mercutia could prevent the war from restarting. After an impassioned plea from Glayder, begging him to take Cesaria somewhere far away from any potential war for both of their safety, he agrees to put his love over his duty. Meanwhile, Isabelle and Elloven have a round of drinks with Mercutia on the upper deck and discuss how boring the other nobles here are.
As the Brelish Minister of War steps up to give a speech, Glayder asks to speak to Mercutia alone. The two of them hide below deck, as she explains she knows of Mercutia's status as a spy, and tells about the threat to her life that has been neutralised. Mercutia's excited and flirtatious demeanor drops, replaced by terrified concern, but she reveals she had information about a Thranish plot to restart the war, and that letting the Brelish government know about this would only help keep the peace. Glayder seems relieved by this, and the two return to the main deck -- Glayder is a blushing mess, and Mercutia's front is once again up.
By now, the lantern lighting ceremony, meant to symbolize peace for... some reason or other, has begun. Glayder and Mercutia find a spot to watch the lights together. Khetari and Elloven go to distract Tybalt by striking up a conversation, quickly learning about his... borderline racist views of cultures such as the Shadow Marches and most of Sarlona. This provokes Elloven's rage and confusion, and he nearly considers throwing Tybalt into the river. Isabelle, however, goes to find Dorian, who offers to move a food cart so as to allow the others to actually push Tybalt into said river. When Glayder returns, she and Dorian shoulder-check Tybalt with perfect timing, causing him to fall off the edge and nearly drown. Elloven almost jumps in after him to add insult to injury, but is stopped by the guards.
With most of the plan put into motion, all the group has to do is bide their time until the fireworks at the end of the party, which will be Olivier and Cesaria's cue to escape. A group of protesters, angered by these nobles seemingly profiting off the war, arrives at the docks and causes a commotion, but is quickly dispersed by the guards. Glayder seems shocked and confused by this, but a surprisingly un-cheery Mercutia finds her and strikes up a conversation about the true extent of the suffering the war caused, and how most nobles just sent off their children to fight while taking the credit for themselves. Glayder wonders if she's speaking from experience, but before she can say anything to that effect, Mercutia asks her for a dance.
Khetari, following her lead, asks Elloven to dance as well, and he accepts. Isabelle watches the others -- especially Glayder -- with an annoyed, faraway look in her eyes, before Olivier and Cesaria encourage her to relax and enjoy the festivities. A few more minutes of celebrating later, the sky explodes in a dazzling display of fireworks, causing just enough of a distraction for the two lovers to escape. As he leaves, Orsino tosses a signet ring with a dog's head symbol on it to Isabelle.
Isabelle offers to keep in contact with Mercutia and Dorian in case they're ever in the same area again, and they both accept. The group hops on another overnight train and returns to Flamewind the next morning, exhausted by their little adventure, to collect their rewards and finally relax.