The Bone Season

Back in the Warden’s residence, Paige tries to sleep, her spirit drifting through the aether. She wakes but feigns sleep when Warden enters, limping. He falls into bed, and once he is asleep, Paige approaches to find that he is injured, bleeding from a bite wound. Fearing that he might die, she bandages the wound and retires to her bed. Hours later, she wakes up to a room that is empty save for a note that reads, “Tomorrow.”

She dresses and flushes her medicinals down the sink once again, vowing to resist the Rephaite oppression. Out on the street, she encounters another voyant from her cohort: Tilda, a “whisperer” who has an addiction to a substance called aster. Tilda explains the purpose of two of the medicinals—a contraceptive and an iron supplement—but is unfamiliar with the third one that apparently is only given to Paige. She directs Paige to the yard where Julian is training. There, she witnesses Julian being physically abused by his trainer, who eventually leaves him lying dazed on the grass and moves back inside with her group. Julian rouses himself, and he and Paige move outside the gate.