Eagle confronts Airi, who claims neutrality in the conflict between the Garicalege and the Blue Doctors. She offers to lead him to Jessie for a price.
Jessie rides a Bound Dolphin through one of the Silkdeep Empire's underwater rivers, and the dolphin's psychic powers cause her to remember her first meeting with Dr. Zai years ago: Jessie's parents confronted a bloodied, delusional Dr. Zai over his illegal experiments and killing of other Blue Tribe members, learning that he committed the atrocities while trying to save his beloved Ishluna from the Sand Sickness. A young Jessie interrupted this meeting, and Zai would have killed her if it weren't for the little girl's compassion for him. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson sheltered Zai from the authorities while he recuperated from his injuries, while Jessie comforted Zai through his pain. Knowing he was wanted by the Police Army and Tribal Authorities Zai went on the run, leaving his Blue Ring in the care of the Jacksons — the same ring Jessie was awarded when she turned 15.
Arriving at the Garicalege's underground base, Jessie is welcomed by Rowan, who admits to being Dr. Zai Gristen. His second in command Tisuodo orders Jessie to treat Rowan's dragon arm as the transplant is causing him immense pain and his body is in danger of rejecting it.
Sequestered away in a lushly appointed room with a fountain connected to the subterranean river system, Jessie breaks down in tears. Eagle arrives on the back of a Bound Dolphin to rescue her, confessing that the whole trip he thought only of Jessie (not Yuma, to Jessie's surprise).
Tisuodo attacks Eagle, who grabs Jessie and tries to escape on the back of the Bound Dolphin. Jessie struggles out of his grasp, leaving her blue ring with him as a token of her love before she swims back to the Garicalege to ease Rowan's suffering.
Chapter 12 Provides Examples of:
- All-Loving Hero: Although she knows that Rowan is a monster who's murdered children and hurt countless members of the Blue Tribe, and that the Garicalege is essentially a human trafficking organization that would bleed her dry as soon as look at her, Jessie still runs to them in order to learn the truth about Dr. Zai and treat Rowan. She even foils her own rescue attempt so that she can return to their captivity and ease Rowan's self-inflicted pain.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Tisuodo's right arm is missing, but he is able to summon a whip-like dragon-headed prosthetic with which he attacks Eagle.
- The Dragon: Rowan's second in command, Tisuodo, is introduced in this chapter.
- Flashback: The Forgotten First Meeting between Jessie and Dr. Zai is portrayed in a Flashback as the river dolphin's psychic abilities cause her to recall the long-burried past.
- Forbidden Love: Dr. Zai was in love with Ishluna, a citizen of the Empire who was afflicted with Sand Sickness.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Jessie had met Dr. Zai twelve years previously, when she was only about three years old. The grief-maddened Dr. Zai almost killed her when she interrupted the confrontation between him and her parents, but even as a young child Jessie was an All-Loving Hero who comforted the broken man as he pulled a knife on her.
- Human Resources: Dr. Zai killed his fellow Blue Doctors to harvest their bones and hearts. He used those parts in an attempt to fabricate a medicine that would turn back the effects of Sand Sickness.
- The Lost Lenore: Dr. Zai's horrible experiments (and the murders he committed to harvest Human Resources from his fellow Blue Doctors) were done to try and save his love, Ishluna, from the terminal diagnosis of Sand Sickness.
- Psychic Link: Downplayed — Bound Dolphins have psychic powers that enable them to know where riders wish to be taken, but these powers also cause their riders to relive important memories.
- Rescue Romance: Eagle shows up to save Jessie from the Garicalege and confesses that he thought only of her as he rode the Bound Dolphin. Even as Jessie foils her own rescue attempt and swims back to Rowan, she leaves her Blue Ring in Eagle's possession as a symbol of her affection.
- The Reveal: Jessie learns that Rowan and Dr. Zai Gristen are one and the same. She also recalls her Forgotten First Meeting with Dr. Zai when she was three years old.
