Content Warning: This section includes discussions of trauma and violence.

The note the mysterious stranger in Innish gifted to Yrene, along with the gold to fund her journey to the Southern Continent, symbolizes Yrene’s dedication to healing and the vows she’s made to Silba. It is this dedication that drives Yrene’s motivations and actions throughout the novel, even when her personal feelings or grudges threaten to sway her in an unfavorable direction.

When Hafiza brings up the matter of healing Chaol, Yrene first refuses, responding: “Do you know what the king’s men did these years? What his armies, his soldiers, his guards did? And you ask me to heal a man who commanded them?” (48). Hafiza only replies to this question with: “It is a reality of who you are—who we are. A choice all healers must make” (48). In this scene, Yrene clutches the note in her pocket and remembers the kindness the stranger paid her in Innish years ago and the words she’d spoken to Yrene, urging her to “do something with [her] useless, wasted life” (50). It is these spoken words and the statement in the handwritten note she left behind claiming the world needs more healers that urges Yrene forward in perfecting her practice.