To be granted access back to Old Town, Pawter requires the permission of her mother, Seyah. So Johnny is escorting the Simms heir back to her home on Qresh, where he has the incomparable pleasure of meeting her haughty sister Louella and her douchey fiancé Hank. Fun times. Meanwhile, after busting some drug dealers, D'avin travels to Pree's bar for a drink…and to flirt with Sabine. Unfortunately, D'avin is very literally swept off his feet and is knocked unconscious on the bar floor — and that was only after a few sips. In another part of the Quad, Khlyen is about ready to touch down on Telen. It's a busy morning.

Back aboard Lucy, D'avin is still acting weird, and freaking Dutch out. But Dutch really hits the roof when D'avin hums a song that only Khylen and she know — meaning that Khylen's memory is somehow…in D'avin's?  Is that why Khylen is torturing D'avin and Johnny's father on Telen for his son's whereabouts? Because that's what's going on.
 
At dinner with the Simms family, Pawter asks her mother for the order of exile to be lifted so she can return to Old Town and get to the bottom of the Company's wall-building scheme. She is denied by Mommy Dearest, so Pawter and Johnny start packing up. As they're about to leave, Castor, the butler, comes in from outside shivering like a leaf before he finally falls over and breaks into a cascade of ice cubes. Louella too catches whatever foggy sickness has been lurking outside the Simms' estate, and Pawter must amputate her sister's infected hand before it spreads to the rest of her body.

Khylen is using some mind control device to learn from D'avin's head how he resisted the plasma, but D'avin is able to resist…for a little while. D'avin's defenses ultimately fail, giving Khylen access to D'avin's mind, and body. As do Khylen's, it would appear, allowing D'avin to take over his body. Khylen (inside D'avin's much younger body) is trying to contact his partner still on Telen and warn him about the approaching Black Root, while Dutch is just getting used to having Khylen on board.

Meanwhile on Qresh, Johnny is trying to get the Simms to safety, but the alpha shield surrounding the place is making it an absolute nightmare to leave. Johnny confronts Pawter's mom, Seyah, about it, and it turns out she's infected herself as a means of finding a cure; and she should have a better chance than anyone, because she invented the darn thing. That's right: she had plans to make Qresh uninhabitable. Unfortunately, someone hacked the chemical weapon and released it early, and now Seyah is paying the price. With her life.

In an effort to save everyone from the fog, Johnny, dressed in Louella's diving suit, muscles through the miasma to the family's underground power source. He wants to blow it up to dissipate the fog. But as soon as he gets there, he's struck from behind by…Hank! Turns out Hank is nothing but a common criminal, looking to loot the Simms of all the family jewels. Papa Simms comes to the rescue, distracting Hank long enough for Johnny to get the drop on him. He then agrees to detonate the power supply instead of Johnny, sacrificing himself for his family's safety. Louella and Pawter are all that's left of the Simms family now, and it is Pawter who assumes the title of Lady of the Land.

Using a jolt of electricity, Dutch sends Khylen's consciousness back into his rightful body and brings D'avin's back into his. Khylen reroutes his ship to find the army personnel who experimented on D'avin way back when, while Pawter is officially inducted into the Nine. And maybe it's everything they've been through together, or realizing he narrowly escaped death by fog, but Johnny goes for it: and kisses Pawter right on the mouth.