It’s early morning as Scylla attempts to persuade Raelle to stay in bed with her. Raelle wants to know more about Scylla’s past, but is only getting the vaguest of answers, much to her frustration. Meanwhile, Alder is having a tense conversation with President Wade about the Spree’s continued attacks.
At breakfast, Tally spots Glory, a childhood friend who isn’t having a great time in basic. Glory asks why Tally would willingly subject herself to the military when she didn’t have to. Anacostia arrives and announces that the top ranked units of the day will be able to attend the pageant in Salem Town.
Alder updates Anacostia on the situation with Wade. They come across the Fosterlings, orphans in the care of Fort Salem; we learn that Anacostia was once one of them. Alder officially states her interest in the Bellweather unit after their harmonics performance.
In training, Abigail trades barbs with fellow High Atlantic Libba, much to Raelle and Tally’s bemusement. Abigail explains that their families hate each other, and that Libba danced with her cavalier at her debut, which in High Atlantic terms, might as well have been a declaration of war. It wasn’t about the guy, however, it was the fact that Libba took Abigail’s night away from her.
That night Raelle is assigned guard duty as punishment for missing inspection. She meets Helen Graves, a sophomore year in War College specializing as a Necro. Raelle probes for information about Necros, which leads to her and Helen talking about Scylla. Helen encourages Raelle to give Scylla time to open up, saying that she heard the army killed Scylla’s parents because they were draft dodgers. Once Raelle leaves, Helen pulls out a lighter, sets her face on fire, and… turns into Scylla.
The unit’s friction continues, with Abigail rejecting Raelle’s off-canon Work when she attempts to heal her, as well as following Raelle when the latter takes off in an unsuccessful bid to catch up to Scylla. Tally is also struggling, as a phone call with her mother quickly devolves into an argument about Tally’s decision to come to Fort Salem. Despite their bickering, the unit manage to pull together in training to deliver the best Windstrike of the day and book their place at the pageant.
In Salem Town, a re-enactment of Alder’s deal with the people about to hang her for witchcraft is taking place, complete with prop silks to represent wind, and it’s Abigail’s turn to sneak off. Raelle follows her and the two come to an agreement not to meddle with each other. They’re even getting along when Tally and Glory catch up with them!
Back at Fort Salem, Alder is overseeing an operation in Kiev which goes south, killing all the soldiers present at the raid as they all turn on each other due to an outside force.
Scylla shows up in Salem Town, where she meets the rest of the unit. She and Abigail immediately throw thinly-veiled insults at each other. Scylla takes Raelle for a walk in the woods, looking for something recently dead so that she can show Raelle “something beautiful”. Using a vocal seed, she grows a Death Cap from a bird, telling Raelle about the cycle of life becoming death becoming life again. She apologizes for being cagey before, and Raelle kisses her.
Back in the town, panic rises outside as reports of a Spree balloon go around. Tally Windstrikes a civilian who pushes her and accuses witches of being the sole problem. The balloon turns out to be a false alarm, and Abigail covers for Tally to stop her from getting into trouble for using Work off-base.
The girls are having a party back at Fort Salem that night, where a drunk Tally emotionally declares that she made the right choice enlisting and professes her love for her fellow witches. On the other side of the base, Scylla tells her mirror balloon that Raelle is hers. She asks when they’ll be extracted, as she’s getting impatient, and the balloon startles her by cracking her mirror in a show of power.
Tropes Used:
- Antiquated Linguistics: More High Atlantic slang thanks to Abigail, this time calling Libba a “dumb noodling nay-nay horse.”
- Arch-Enemy: Abigail and Libba both view each other as this.
- Attack of the Town Festival: The balloon seen at the pageant. It ends up being a false alarm, but the cadets are seen trying to protect the civilians.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Scylla describes herself as the best in her year to Raelle while disguised as Helen.
- Childhood Friends: Tally and Glory grew up together.
- Dark and Troubled Past: As Scylla-as-Helen explains, on top of being seen as weird due to being Necro, Scylla’s parents were killed by the army for being Dodgers. “That’ll mess you up,” indeed.
- Kiss Diss: Raelle, frustrated with Scylla’s vague answers, turns her head at the last second so Scylla’s kiss lands on her cheek instead of her lips.
- The Klutz: Tally fumbles and drops the weapon thrown to her, much to Anacostia’s exasperation.
- Literal Metaphor: Scylla tells Raelle she’s been burned before. To be clear, the audience has seen Scylla burn herself a new face several times by now.
- Meaningful Name: Tally notes that Scylla is a Greek name; in Greek mythology, Scylla was sometimes thought to have been a beautiful nymph who Circe turned into a monster. One of the dorms at Fort Salem is named Circe, perhaps a reference to the army killing Scylla’s family and prompting her to join the Spree.
- Sarcastic Clapping: Libba does this upon seeing Abigail.
- Second Episode Introduction: This episode introduces President Wade, Libba Swythe, and Glory Moffett.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Scylla and Abigail as soon as they meet.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The unit all bicker with each other during Windstrike training, but it leads them to an unexpectedly amazing result.
- That Came Out Wrong: Raelle’s verbal backpedal when she realizes she’s just called Scylla weird.Scylla: You think I’m weird?Raelle: Like sexy weird… I like it!
- Troubled, but Cute: What Scylla-as-Helen seems to be trying to make Raelle think of her.
- Volleying Insults: Abigail and Libba’s has to be seen to be believed. The phrase “face like a spider abortion” comes up at one point.
- War Reenactors: Of a sort. The pageant in Salem Town includes a re-enactment of the origins of the Salem Accord.
