- Chapter 7 starts with the backstory of Helda, Katsa's ladyservant.
- Turns out Helda had a Graceling child of her own, a swimmer. He wasn't of any use to the king, so he was sent back home. Even though he wasn't dangerous, Helda saw how other folks shunned him. Because he had the characteristic Graceling mismatched eyes? Because he swam like a fish—literally? She wasn't sure, but seeing her own son ostracized probably had a lot to do with her acceptance of Katsa and her refusal to believe the rumors that she was to be feared.
- Helda became Katsa's ladyservant when Katsa was almost eleven, and she's been with her ever since.
- Back to the present: Katsa's getting ready for dinner (oh joy) with Helda's help. Helda keeps suggesting gorgeous dresses in bright colors, but Katsa prefers to dress to un-impress. Seems Helda would like Katsa to notice the men who admire her and do a little flirting—maybe get a husband—while Katsa would like to skip that business altogether in favor of weapons practice. Or watching paint dry.
- At dinner, Randa seats Katsa at a table below his (as usual), with Giddon on her left (as usual), and another eligible bachelor lord on her right (as usual). The lord on her right is Lord Davit of the northeast, and he's good enough company that Katsa is able to resist tearing out her hairpins.
- Aware that she's being watched by the Lienid prince, Katsa is distracted and stumbles a few times in her conversation with Lord Davit, though she does manage to get in her stock line: "My uncle is very disappointed in me, because I never intend to marry" (7.66). She likes to get that one out early in her conversations with eligible lords, mainly because it's true.
- Davit replies, "I doubt your uncle is the only man who finds that disappointing" (7.67), but it turns out he's interested in more than Katsa's hand in marriage. He's really there to speak to the Council.
- Katsa slyly lets Giddon know what's up so he can spread the word to other Council members, then, after hearing her uncle bragging about one of her accomplishments as his enforcer, feels a great need to leave the hall and get away from "her uncle's laugh, Giddon's smothering concern, the Lienid's burning eyes" (7.85), and the general clatter of voices.
- She runs through the court, pulling out hairpins as she goes. She hurls her earrings into the fountain then thinks better of it, kicks off her shoes, hitches up her dress, and wades in to retrieve them.
- She contemplates going to see Raffin, but decides it's movement she needs, not conversation. So she climbs out of the fountain and runs.