Iris, Attie, and Tobias arrive in River Down and reunite with Lucy, Marisol, and Keegan. When Iris settles down in the laundry room with her typewriter, she finds two letters waiting for her beside the wardrobe door. The first contains Roman’s answers to the three questions she first sent—the name of her pet snail, her middle name, and her favorite season. In the second, Roman asks her to answer three questions in return—how he takes his tea, his middle name, and his favorite season. Iris promptly answers, and Roman replies with an admission that he’s fallen in love with her a second time. Her presence has helped him process his trauma and recover his memories. Roman promises to provide Iris with as much information on Dacre’s movements as possible.

As Roman’s wounds continue to plague him, he worries about the irreparable damage that the tear gas at Avalon Bluff has caused to his lungs and if he can manage it with proper medical treatment after the war. Dacre summons Roman to ask about Iris. Dacre is unaware of Roman’s current correspondence with Iris, only knowing that they used to be coworkers at the Gazette. She has recently reached Dacre’s radar because of her article in the Inkridden Tribune detailing the myth about Enva besting him.