Three weeks have passed since Hitomi, Van, and Allen's ordeal in Dornkirk's fortress, and all of Asturia prepares for Millerna and Dryden's wedding and worries over King Aston's ailing state. Van give Hitomi an almost-but-not-quite love confession that disillusion Hitomi, making her vulnerable to Folken's test of the Destiny-Altering Device.