Late at night, Lara drugs Taryn to slip away from Nana’s house and sneaks through the dark jungle toward the bridge. Navigating the steep and rocky path, she scales the pillar and enters the secret interior staircase. Inside, she locates a hidden door leading outward and uses her own blood to mark its outline so her father's soldiers can easily spot it later. Just as she finishes, she overhears Aren, Jor, and Lia discussing a trading caravan camped right above the entrance, forcing them to abandon plans to use the bridge. Lara rushes back down and manages to return to the house just before Aren discovers her absence, successfully defusing his suspicions with a fabricated story of illness.
Soon after, Aren announces that a fleet of Amaridian ships has been spotted off the coast and orders everyone back to the central island. Because the bridge is blocked by the caravan, the group is forced to brave a treacherous journey along a submerged rocky ledge in the pouring rain. Lara battles her intense fear and the freezing, violent currents, eventually reaching the waiting canoes with the help of Taryn and Aren. As they set out across the turbulent water, they pass the massive, illuminated Amaridian armada. Lia urges Aren to attack the fleet preemptively, but he firmly refuses, insisting that Ithicana does not provoke conflicts it cannot afford. Hearing his calculated restraint makes Lara reconsider her father's teachings about Ithicana's aggressive dominance, realizing that Aren is simply fighting for the survival of his kingdom.