Sai hides Bo in the ship’s hold, where the conditions are dark, cold, and smelly. To escape this misery, Bo sneaks out at night and steals candles from Mr. Lark’s room and burns them in the hold, despite the risk of starting a fire. When Bo accuses Sai of thinking he’s a nobody, her denial is sincere.

One day, Sai overhears Grebe bullying a young boy over an argument about the Harbinger Sea and intervenes in the altercation. The boy begs Sai not to let Paiyoon set course for the Harbinger Sea; he says if the ship heads that way, the spirits will send the “Slake” after them. The slake, he says, is the queen of the dragons, who guards the Sunderlands. Sai brushes off the subject by saying she hasn’t heard Paiyoon mention the Harbinger Sea or the Sunderlands. Having gotten too close to prevent Grebe from seeing her face, Sai invents a story about having seen him in the Goldhope Harbor Market while she was there with her governess. She mimics Tippy’s snobbery to sell the lie, and Grebe seems to be convinced.