In the Garden

Back in the rented room, Schierke tries to bathe Casca in a wooden tub behind a curtain while Isidro sits comically bound to a chair to stop his peeping. His squirming inches the chair toward the girls until Casca bursts free, dropping the curtain over his head just as he might have seen anything. Wrapped only in a towel, Schierke rushes to cover Casca, who tears the witch's own towel away and flings her onto Guts' stomach; mortified that he now has a full view of her, Schierke torches him with her staff. The scorched swordsman notes that Farnese and Serpico have been away a long while.

At the estate, Farnese bathes alone and finds the solitude strange after so many shared baths on the road. Maidservants dry and dress her, and when she learns her silver tunic and dagger are being thrown out, she bolts from the bath in only skirt and corset to chase down the servant carrying them off. A horrified Serpico can only watch his mistress, and unknowing half sister, dash half clad across the hall to reclaim her belongings.

Once Farnese is properly dressed, her brother Magnifico appears and, citing her behavior, says he now understands their father's low regard for her. Walking the estate garden, the two turn to the fall of the Holy Iron Chain Knights, and unlike Federico, Magnifico blames their father rather than Farnese. He recalls how Federico locked her away as a girl under the guise of protection, and argues that the shame heaped on her, the child who set her own home ablaze, traces back to that neglect. He curses Federico for treating his children as cogs in the Vandimion machine.

Farnese explains that she came seeking her father's influence to obtain a ship to Skellig for her new friends, after Isidro and Serpico's own efforts came to nothing. Gazing at the many vessels anchored offshore, Magnifico notes most are committed to the war against the Kushan and cannot be spared, yet he can arrange a single ship for her, provided she gives something in return.

In the canteen room, Schierke leaves Casca's meal to Isidro and tends the still weary Guts, trying and failing to spoon soup into him just as Serpico walks in on the embarrassing scene. His mood is grim: Farnese has indeed won them a ship to Skellig, but she herself will not be joining them on the voyage. The chapter spans twenty pages and appeared in Young Animal issue 4 on 11 February 2005 within the Millennium Falcon Arc.