At the end of the last chapter, we learn that the hugo have won the battle of Constantine, and that the goddess is preparing to destroy an elevator to the shaman's laboratory. The captain of the ship, Captain Anuwat, arrives at Pontus and welcomes him to the island. The fleet admiral, britogur, tells the captain that the wave court has not yet decided whether to join the war or not. The admiral says that the forest was harvested for the last war because of the trees that were left behind. He says that there is time for the goddess to decide whether or not to allow the war to continue, but that he does not think his youngest sister, who lives outside of the city, will want him to carry her away from her family. He also says that he hopes the goddess will not allow him to duplicate her father's invention. He adds that he has a mask fragment that bears the power of his own blood, and he is trying to find his father. He realizes that what he has seen was not an accident, but the mask must have been singing inside.