Thirty-Five

Campar recovers in the world-palace and meets with Dafyd and a mysterious woman named Clae to report on the aliens and creatures he encountered during his journey. Later, Ghati informs Campar that he and Vaudai have been selected for a dangerous new mission to survey an ancient stellar structure, and chooses to end their romantic relationship to spare them both the pain of inevitable loss. In a separate scene, Dafyd and Clae discuss theories about the nature of the deathless enemy and humanity's role in the larger conflict.

Campar sits in Dafyd's garden nursing his injuries and describes his experiences aboard the alien ship to Dafyd and the unfamiliar woman Clae. He recounts encounters with a reanimated pentapus creature that behaved like a mechanism rather than a living being, and details the various alien species traveling with him. After the meeting concludes, Campar reflects on the deaths of Tonner and Rickar, expressing guilt that Rickar traded places with Ghati and perished as a result. Dafyd attributes Rickar's death simply to war.

Campar returns to his quarters to find Ghati has prepared dinner. When Campar notices Ghati's guilty expression, Ghati reveals he has been selected for another dangerous mission to survey an ancient stellar structure, with Vaudai requesting his participation. Despite Campar's offer to use his friendship with Dafyd to prevent the mission, Ghati breaks off their romantic relationship, explaining he cannot bear the fear of losing Campar again after witnessing his near-death on the previous journey. He chooses instead to remain emotionally detached, "like water," to withstand future losses. Vaudai arrives and confirms the mission is dangerous and that the war will never end, as the Carryx will perpetually wage conflict at their empire's edges. Ghati leaves a small opening for future connection, saying he will call if the war ever ends.

Later that night, Clae visits Dafyd's quarters and presents a theory about the deathless enemy. She proposes that rather than being a single species, the deathless enemy may be a set of self-replicating instructions or techniques passed between species—comparable to a virus or lichen relationship—that renders organisms unkillable and weaponized. She theorizes that humans may be client species used by this enemy across ages, and that other entities like herself may exist. Dafyd dismisses the philosophical implications as irrelevant to their immediate strategic goals of assassinating the Sovran and destroying the Carryx. Clae leaves, disappointed that her discovery of potential kinship matters little to the larger conflict.