The storyline in Bardo goes back three months to show how Echo, Hope, Octavia, and Diyoza went through their training. Anders starts by showing them what is happening up above Bardo, showing them the destruction and what they are training for.

They then begin to show their combat skills, but Anders picks up on how they still work as a group and put one another before Bardo. But they need to focus on protecting Bardo as a whole, and Levitt suggests that Anders shows them what they are all about.

First Anders puts them through a fear simulation, which only Echo passes. Then he shows them how they make their children, which includes raising them in artifically for the first nine months instead of inside someone. They then are raised by everyone so they don't form bonds with anyone in particular. They also are able to make everyone perfect by fixing issues before the fetus is ready to be born.

They then get to see the classroom, where Anders shows them how to not let their emotions control them. But Hope keeps struggling against it, even though the others tell her she needs to in order to survive.

Levitt visits Octavia to warn her that she needs to pass the final test. They have sex. 

The next day Octavia, Echo, and Diyoza pass by killing Hope in their simulation where she tries to harm Bardo and they don't let her. Hope doesn't kill Diyoza and tells her to harm Bardo, which means she fails.

Anders asks Echo to choose her punishment and Echo orders her to 5 years on Skyring alone, which Diyoza and Octavia don't look happy with.

Over in Sanctum, Nikki wants Murphy and Russell and Raven to come to the main hall. Indra comes back and Sheidheda shows her a secret tunnel to the main hall while Murphy stalls with "Russell'. They have to reveal that they aren't primes and then Indra comes in and overpowers Nikki.

Indra leaves Sheidheda in the main hall with his believers because she thinks they will kill their god. Instead, he kils them and Murphy outs his identity to the grounders while trying to stop him. The grounders see that he killed everyone and kneel to him.