Seventeen

Jessyn learns from Garral about Corvall's identity and the broader conflict: he is a human soldier in living armor fighting against the Carryx, and the children are survivors from the city whose families were killed. Corvall has devised a plan to activate an emergency beacon at his crashed ship to summon a rescue, but Jessyn realizes the rescue fleet will destroy the Carryx ships while Corvall is absent, threatening everyone aboard. She forces a renegotiation of the plan, insisting on going to the crash site herself to leverage the rescue into sparing the Carryx vessel.

Jessyn spends the day caring for the children while Garral, Omco, and Corvall converse intensely at the cave mouth. After hours of exhausting translation work, Garral explains what he learned: Omco and Manta are tutors; the children are survivors from the city before the Carryx invasion killed their families. Corvall is a human soldier in regenerating living armor, part of an allied force opposing the Carryx. His ship crashed, killing his unit. He has been protecting the children in the absence of orders. That evening, Jessyn and Garral share an intimate but non-sexual moment of comfort, with Garral revealing he has children back on Anjiin. In the morning, Corvall announces a plan: take a team to his crashed ship, activate an emergency beacon to alert his people, and hope the rescue ships will evacuate the children. Garral explains they must smuggle a device to disable Carryx ships, ensuring the rescue is not a battle. Jessyn immediately sees the fatal flaw: the rescue fleet will destroy the Carryx vessels while they sit defenseless and Corvall is gone, killing everyone aboard, including Garral and her. She demands the plan change—Garral must go with the children as insurance, providing intelligence to the rescue team to spare the Carryx ship. Garral capitulates.