Geralt dispatches a zeugl—an odorous, slime-spewing, tentacled monster—who resides in a refuse heap in the town of Aedd Gynvael.

Geralt returns to an Aedd Gynvael inn, where Yennefer awaits him. Urgently, she directs him to bathe. Yennefer muses on the ability of a swamp-dwelling creature like the zeugl to adapt to an urban environment—an idea championed by Istredd, a local sorcerer. Tired of hearing her praise for Istredd, Geralt dismisses the theory. Yennefer examines Geralt for injuries because his Witcher elixirs numb him to pain, but he has taken no harm. As she checks, Geralt notices a black bird called a kestrel that Yennefer has magically crafted, but she refuses to divulge its purpose. When asked about her plans to see Istredd tomorrow, Yennefer confirms their morning meeting. Geralt is eager to leave Aedd Gynvael because the town makes him profoundly uncomfortable, but Yennefer reproaches him for impatience. Attempting intimacy, Geralt succumbs to exhaustion when the elixirs wear off, but Yennefer revives him with a spell, so that they can resume their lovemaking.

Post-tryst, Geralt eyes the kestrel and expresses discomfort with the town. Yennefer reveals that its name means “a shard of ice” and recounts a legend of a winter queen who threw ice shards during snowstorms.