While the crew of the Maris Stella starts cutting away the broken main mast and salvaging the rigging, Melisandre realizes her dueña Fedencia has disappeared entirely. She concludes the woman must be on the island all now believe is Bryn Bresail, and asks Constanza for a shore party to go search. Ferdinand and Juan agree to accompany her, but as soon as a boat is lowered the Sea Lady they have met not too long ago appears, calling for Lucas and "his friend who received the Prophecy" to come visit her. Both Lucas and Constanza decline, but the Sea Lady smiles nastily and promises all on the sea eventually belong to her. As a demonstration, she merely touches the empty boat and sinks it. Since the water appears uncannily deep all the way to the very shore, Constanza takes the Maris Stella in close enough to throw anchor and a gangplank.
Melisandre, Juan, and Ferdinand go down the gangplank, where they are immediately met with a party of mice, but mice walking on two legs and dressed up in court garb. Their leader opens a large parchment and starts addressing them in Avalonian, which none of them understand. They call for Lucas to translate, so he and Constanza walk down just in town to hear that the mouse is bringing a summons for the heroes to appear before the Queen of the Sky. Constanza turns to give instructions to her crew -- but the crew, the vessel, and even the sea are nowhere in sight anymore as the heroes now stand in a glade! They look at one another uneasily, and each suddenly sees the others differently. They all begin to suspect that they may be seeing different aspects altogether.
The mice have already scurried off, but the heroes start walking towards the castle they see in the distance. They meet a few interesting sights and characters along the way, and eventually lose sight of the castle. They arrive to a remarkably bustling village which they learn is Merrygold, "where everything can be bought and sold." They notice that they receive very varying welcomes: Lucas is called "Lord," Ferdinand "Domae," and Juan "Enemy." They try to barter for directions to the Queen's castle and eventually Lucas trades his uncanny weather sense to someone who seems to think they got a sweet deal. The castle reappears, high up on a hill. After hours of trudging up steep switchbacks, they abruptly reached a gate guarded by two immense stone statues who only let them through after Lucas successfully answered a riddle.
Beyond the gate, the heroes found a large room tiled in black and white, filled with Sidhe who conversed and walked around in patterns reminiscent of an overly complex game of chess. After many unsuccessful tries, they all managed to make across to the next gate, although Juan was shamefully picked on and abused by every faerie he met. This time, it was Melisandre who solved the next riddle after much head scratching on everyone's part.
As the door opened, a Sidhe hunting party on white horses galloped past. The heroes were handed steeds and told to join the Queen's hunt. When Melisandre asked what the prey was, a faerie pointed at Juan! Upon reaching a very large encampment, the Queen dismounted and asked who would be her Champion. Lucas took up the task but soon discovered the quarry was a six-year old little girl! Lucas caught her and tried to claim her for a trophy, but when he refused to cut out the Crown's portion for the meat racks, the Queen told him he could be the next prey. The heroes all jumped to his defence and perplexed the Queen by trying to explain about mortality.
Then everyone found themselves in a castle of ice where a large banquet was being served. A herald and trumpets announced them as Constanza the Sword-Bearer, Lucas, ambassador of the Queen of the Sea, Ferdinand the Domae, Melisandre the Mortal, and Thalus the Enemy. They were taken to seats near the Queen, and were all careful to avoid eating or drinking anything. They asked the Queen what task they must perform for her in order to be released, and were told that first they must prove themselves worthy by undertaking a quest for her. She bid them seek an ogre who had been ravaging her kingdom and foiling her knights; to find him they would need to
Seek the darkness, not the lightMelisandre asked about Fedencia and was shown her friend, encased in a pillar of ice. The heroes decided to start on their quest immediately, and so found themselves not in the ice castle but in a meadow. Noting that in one direction the weather looked like it turned dark and grey, and in another the trees seemed to shrivel as in autumn, they headed squarely between the two ("darkness" and "winter".) Things got progressively spookier and a mysterious faerie with a red cap and a halberd kept ambushing them. Shadows jumped out, and the heroes even met with their own cut off heads along the way.
Seek winter, not summer
They finally reached a castle made entirely of iron and were greeted by a snarly creature and his two giants. Things looked like they were headed for a very one-sided fight, but Juan asked if they could be granted an audience with the lord of the castle. He was treated as a friend and asked to vouch for the others (the "enemies"), their situations suddenly reversed.
