Waking injured and separated from the Arkbow, Vivien faces a captor eager to reproduce its power. The baron studies the artifact as a machine he expects to own once its procedure is understood. Its connection to Skalla interests him less as a relationship than as access to an inexhaustible collection.
He invokes the destruction of her home and offers status in exchange for cooperation. Vivien agrees to demonstrate how an essence is gathered, while warning that the Arkbow was made for her use. Her apparent concession is a way to recover access to the weapon rather than consent to his ownership of its spirits.
The bargain asks the reader to distinguish preservation from surrender. Grief can make an offer of restored permanence attractive, but the baron would reproduce the menagerie's hierarchy inside Skalla's last refuge. Vivien's refusal is directed at that claim, even when confinement limits how openly she can express it.