Temper is standing watch on the walls of Mock's Hold. As he watches the approach of a message cutter, he reflects on the arrival of a Malazan man-of-war three days earlier. With hundreds of others, he had observed the Imperial official disembark. As he had been watching, he had remembered his own time aboard such imperial vessels. He had then seen cloaked figures exiting the ship who seemed all too familiar and had wondered if they were from Unta and possibly after him.