Lady Vidikas, once Challice D'Arle and now wife to Councilor Gorlas Vidikas, watches the crowds celebrating the first night of the Gedderone Fete from her balcony, as she thinks of the fad lately among Daru men of wearing Malazan-like torcs, and also of her husband’s contempt for much of the nobility. She believes she has seen what her life is now going to be like, and she mourns the past.