Nine years after the evacuation from the Southern Continent to Fort Hold, Red Hanrahan informs Paul Benden his intention to move out with a group of people - Fort Hold is overcrowded, and he has insufficient space to healthily house and breed horses - to a new cave system in the north. Paul Benden eventually approves this after confirming that the hold will be built in a safe location - such as the cave network which Pierre de Courci and a small group established Boll Hold in three years prior - the protection of which won't overtax the dragons. Paul Benden is keen to gradually establish more sites to prevent a repeat of the "Fever Year" - three years back, a fever spread through Fort Hold and killed four thousand inhabitants; including Emily Boll, before a cure was developed - and reveals