The War Chapter 22 – It Happens to Everyone
Shabba and Imo return to Telmon for Markis’s memorial. Imo wonders where the body is, and discovers that it has been given to scientists for study – the Tulubian custom. He is upset when Shabba insists that Markis no longer exists in any form.
In another scene Shabba, Imo, Vido and Om are visiting Jedib and Kota. The adults gather in the garden as Jedib reads an announcement about the newly appointed Prime Minister to the Council of Peace: Las Della Rut. Jedib is upset because she is a security officer who wrote a book entitled “The Next War”. Jedib feels that war is mediocre. Shabba shows few signs of mourning and discusses the issue with Jedib in a level-headed way, but Vido is very emotional and in her anger and sorrow favors going to war with the insurgents.
Meanwhile, Om and Imo put together a puzzle. Imo is distracted and cannot seem to get the pieces to fit. They discuss the Evacuation, and Imo naively suggests overturning the Evacuation in order to quell the insurgents, or even killing those who oppose Evacuation. Om is shocked by the second suggestion, explaining that it is always wrong to kill. The conversation ends with Imo’s realization that everyone will die someday, including him.
Chapter 23 – Dreams and Nightmares
Shabba and Imo are present at the ceremony inducting the new Ministers to the Council of Peace. The new Chairman of the United Wakitian Nations makes the blunder of proudly touting that he will execute violent insurgents. The peaceful Tulubians are horrified. The ceremony ends with the introduction of Las Della Rut and her startling announcement that she will unleash the Army of Peace on the insurgent groups.
As they are leaving, Shabba and Imo encounter Ilis Et Dooly’s former bodyguard, Gurdvog. Now unemployed, he offers his services to them and they accept.
Chapter 24 - Dissolution
Faril, Lushi and Krul discuss the secret Suth resistance. Faril speaks to Lushi as an elder, teasing him about childhood mishaps, and Lushi becomes stern and warns Faril to not speak to him that way since he will soon be the El-fal. The scene ends with a young male member of the Holy Family summoning Lushi and Krul to their ill father’s bedside.
Shabba is in her flat, working, and hears a crash in the garden. Imo has accidentally destroyed a statue while doing a Gaishon dance of worship. Time has passed and Imo is older and embarking on puberty. Shabba is disturbed by his religious inclinations toward Holona and tries to talk him out of it. He argues back and begs to go on a pilgrimage to the Gray Jewel. When Shabba refuses he retreats to his room. Then Vido invites Shabba and Imo over for dinner. While Imo and Om are alone in her room we discover that he has developed a crush on her, though he is silent about it. While Vido and Shabba are in the garden, Vido informs Shabba of her plans to move away for fear that Imo is a bad influence on Om. Shabba is heartbroken and decides to give in to Imo’s request to visit the Gaishon Islands.
The El-fal is on his deathbed. Lushi must lie beside him until death comes. Usibil’s dying words to his son are to make his humiliation not in vain and to triumph over their enemies. Lushi is declared the new El-fal.
Chapter 25 – Sede and Sky are One
Shabba and Imo make their pilgrimage to the Gaishon Islands incognito and accompanied by Shabba’s Uncle Burda and Gurdvog, who poses as a Tulubian tourist. Imo must wear a hood to hide that he is a lemo. Their first stop is visiting the Hosner lemos who live on Saroo. Most of them can adequately speak Gaishon and function normally, but they need to be ever-protected by the ascetics. Imo is highly disturbed and cannot relate to them, but Shabba is relieved at the good state they are in considering what they have endured.
Next comes a festival on the main island of Rinuwaul. During the peak of the celebrations the Ubagai says a poem while which thousands of Gaishons do the dance for Sede. Imo is lost in ecstasy and lets his hood fall to his shoulders, while Shabba pushes away her feelings of regret and grief.
Chapter 26 – Decline of the Resistance
Zu is in his home. His mother now works long hours on a farming commune and his youngest niece is dying. He has a confrontation with his sister, Lanja, because instead of selling salt all day she visits the fisherman in the hopes of conceiving a son. Then Cal comes and they travel to the “Thorns of Sede” headquarter for their shift.
Once they arrive, Zu notices a light in distant night sky. It is military coming to arrest them. He sounds the alarm. The whole group of insurgents race through underground passages in the hopes of entering the forest. Zu and Cal have almost made it to the forest’s perimeter when a soldier from a plane shoots and Cal falls to the ground. Zu attempts to shoot the soldier with his pistol, which had no effect. The scene ends as Zu is also fired on.
Chapter 27 – A World Resigned to War
Gizo holds a presentation of new covert technology in his flat for Prime Minister Las Della Rut, Shan, and the new Minister of Ethics, Zegog Della Romer. Gizo does not like Zegog because he is nervous and not willing to sacrifice any ethical rules for the sake of the long-term ideal. Gizo continues to hate Shan for his general pessimism and nasally voice. Las, however, agrees to collaborate with Gizo to obtain a sample of the El-fal’s blood, as a way to discover if the Holy Family has been involved with the Wakitian insurgency. The scene ends with a call to Las Della Rut that Wakitian Army of Peace officials are illegally using torture to interrogate rebel suspects.
Chapter 28 – The Empty Cell
Zu is being tortured in Ciris by the Wakitian Army of Peace. Zegog Della Romer and his entourage of Tulubians come and free him. The last scene shows Zu in a Tulubian prison. The snow (which he has never scene), the accent and appearance of his Tulubian lawyer, and the meatless food upset him. He is agonized at the thought of what will become of his family without him. Though they feed him and do not torture him, he wonders if life in such a foreign prison is not worse than death.
