Theodora explains that her room is above the convent kitchen. After writing the previous chapter, she imagines the sounds of pots and pans to be shields and swords clashing in battle. Even the smells of the kitchen make her think of an army mess hall. She imagines Agilulf and Raimbaut speaking: Raimbaut tells Agilulf that after yesterday’s battle, he would like to become a paladin for the glory of it. Agilulf responds, saying that being a paladin is often inglorious work, and when Raimbaut suggests that shadowing Agilulf is the only training he needs, Agilulf invites the young man to inspect the mess hall. Agilulf explains that rationing food is difficult work and sends him off to tour the kitchen.

Raimbaut returns, saying that there are many homeless people in the hall who look identical (but each with a different name) trying to receive soup. He takes Agilulf to one of the homeless men, and it becomes clear that the so-called many homeless people are in fact only one person: Gurduloo. Agilulf thanks Raimbaut for pointing out an irregularity in the system and reuniting the paladin with his squire. The cooks give Gurduloo a cauldron with the remaining soup rations. He emerges from the pot, but as the soup is covering his eyes, he seems to believe that the world has become soup, and begins waving the spoon in the air, trying to scoop up the nonexistent soup. Agilulf approaches Gurduloo and tells him that he is now Agilulf’s squire and then commands him to help with the burial of bodies from yesterday’s battle.

Agilulf, Raimbaut, and Gurduloo walk out to the battlegrounds, where vultures are picking at the corpses. Each man grabs a corpse to carry to a grave. Agilulf envies his corpse’s physical form, Gurduloo is jealous of the role that the corpse will play in nourishing the earth, and Raimbaut feels that he must make every moment of his life count before he, too, becomes a corpse. Gurduloo begins digging and attempts to get his corpse to help, but he realizes this is impossible. Upon digging out the grave, Gurduloo decides to test it out and, finding it to be comfortable, attempts to bury himself. Raimbaut and Agilulf save him just before he suffocates. They leave, and Agilulf commands Gurduloo to help cut wood. Raimbaut asks Agilulf about Bradamante; Gurduloo, upon hearing the name, seems surprised, and Agilulf ignores the question, showing Raimbaut how to cleanly cut down a tree.