The chapter opens with a soliloquy by the half-wolf. He tells the reader that the blood queen has decided to throw the fleet overboard, and that the fleet is hiding in various places across the mountains to make it harder for the queen's spies to track them. He also tells us that he has been told that the queen has ordered a refugee camp on the island of Pontus. The halfwolf wonders how he got to the island, and wonders what a "faithless grandmother" like his grandmother would think of such a thing. He wonders if the war is "brutish" and brutish, but as his daughter reminds him, he's old enough to understand that modern warfare is "old fashioned," and he wonders if he'll be able to start negotiations with a "warlord present." He wonders what it would be like to have a "refuge camp in Pontus waters," and wonders if "silence / There can be safety / Or danger." He's not sure how to get the queen to give him what he needs, but he wonders why he didn't mention that when he ordered a worse order. He asks the halfwolf if it's the "monster thing" , and she replies that it is. She also tells him that she's received a message from "a friend," and that he is surprised that he isn't dead. She says that she is surprised because she'd rather "die saving lives" than "disfigure them." She also says that the mother superior, the queen, has the populace "panicked" and wants to "restart" the war. She wants the people to believe that the government is behind her. She's also trying to get them to trust her again. She has appointed a new admiral to replace him, and the two of them are tied to a family that has been in the navy for generations. They're both loyal to their families, and they'll receive more instructions from the queen at a later date. The queen wants to start the war again, and wants the populace to believe she is behind it. She doesn't understand why the people want to believe the government behind them, but she knows that she has the voice of the queen. She knows that the people don't trust the queen because she is a fanatic, and because the queen is a bastard. She is also a member of the oldest family in the country, and he is also tied to the