- Overnight though, a storm breaks out and there's snow everywhere. The bandits can't go anywhere until the storm subsides, so they're all stuck at the academy for the time being.
- The girls are worried because their families won't come to see them when there's snow… so they could be stuck there for a long time.
- The bandits discover their winter supplies and start helping themselves to all the food. Miri watches Dan reach out in frustration to grab Liana, but the other bandit tells him that there will be plenty of time for killing later.
- Just as she suspected, the bandits aren't going to just let them all go—instead they'll probably take the princess and kill all the other girls. Miri suddenly feels very afraid.
- She uses quarry-speech to tell all the girls to run, but not all of them sprint off. They're easily caught and Dan asks which girl gave the order to run—Bena points to Miri. What a traitor.
- Miri stands up and starts to tell a story of how a long time bandits came to Mount Eskel… Dan clamps his hand over her mouth, but the other girls just chime in to tell the tale of how the mountain knows an outsider's boots and it will not support its weight.
- They say this in unison, and the bandits are definitely kind of freaked out.
- Dan pulls Miri aside and tells her that the next time there's trouble he's going to slit her throat. Yikes, dude.
- Miri starts to troubleshoot. Is there any way that she can use quarry-speech to reach the village? It may be far, but she was able to use quarry-speech during the exam outside, so there must be linder rock in the ground.
- During the night, Miri stays up trying a bunch of memories in order to find the right one that will reach the village.
- She finally settles on the bandits story that gets retold at the spring festival each year; Miri presses herself against the floor and tries to make that memory travel all the way to Peder.
- She's so tired that she finally falls asleep hoping that a miracle will happen and that Peder will know that something is wrong.