As the Lycean Ball approaches, the dragonriders are expected to learn advanced dance. Annie is paired with Lee, and they enjoy learning the dances together. They also attend etiquette lessons so that they may make a good impression on the citizens in attendance at the Lycean Ball. The night of the ball, Annie wears a stunning dress that makes her feel confident, if a bit silly to be wearing it around her dragonrider peers.

At the ball, the dragonriders are forced to socialize with many guests. Dora Mithrides, a wealthy councilwoman known for investments crucial to getting the Revolution started, expresses distaste that no riders from the Janiculum—the patrician neighborhood on the Palace side of the river in Callipolis—made it into the Fourth Order. When Power protests that he is from the Janiculum, she brushes him off because he is adopted. This is news to Annie, Lee, and the other classmates. Dora continues, revealing that she believes there is a sparking problem with the dragons. She believes that dragonborn blood is required to spark the fleet of dragons and birth dragonfire, thus more patrician riders are needed. Hane and Atreus don’t believe in this theory, which Dora claims is drawn from her readings of the Aurelian Cycle book on dragons and the dragonborn.