In the land of Silendar, Yuna lives alone with her father, who makes poison potions for wealthy and powerful leaders. Their home is surrounded by a tall stone wall, and Yuna rarely talks with others or leaves the wall’s perimeter. When she fixes a worn-down part of the wall, she sticks her hands through a hole and is shocked to accidentally grab a hand on the other side. She peers through the hole and meets the eyes of Himil, a teenage boy she vaguely knows from the village. Himil is well-known for being covered in scars after he contracted and survived the poxplague ten years ago. Like Yuna, who is shunned because she is rumored to be poisonous, Himil is shunned by Silanders who assume he is still contagious. They introduce themselves to each other, and Yuna comes back to the wall later that night. She reaches through the hole and meets Himil’s hand again. They start to talk through the hole regularly, and Himil reveals that he works for a blacksmith and wants to be a cook. One night, Himil crawls under the fence, and they walk around Yuna’s home's grounds. Himil mentions that they could meet at the market next, but Yuna is scared to expand their relationship beyond their small meetings at the wall. He leaves without a word and does not come back for a few nights. The next time Yuna goes into town, she tries to speak more with people and is surprised by their kind responses. She works up the courage to seek out Himil at the blacksmith’s shop and defends him publicly when some children shout that he has the poxplague. They share a happy kiss, and Yuna invites him to come over for dinner through the wall’s gate.