Interludes

Interlude set twenty-six years in Szeth's past. Young Szeth dances as spiritual practice near his family's sacred stone while his sister Elid watches, and they discover a new stone emerging from the earth—an unprecedented and troubling event in their Shinovar community.

The interlude opens with eleven-year-old Szeth dancing in meditation around a large family stone, moving fluidly with the wind as his fourteen-year-old sister Elid plays the flute. After he finishes, exhausted, Elid questions why he practices so intensely when no one is watching except the sheep. Szeth defends his discipline, insisting on doing things correctly. The siblings discuss outlander lands beyond the mountains, with Elid expressing curiosity about the strange stonewalker cultures and violent practices of the outside world, while Szeth expresses concern about protecting Shinovar's sacred treasures from ocean raiders. Szeth notices their family's duties to add rather than subtract make them blessed. While tending to the old ewe Molli, Szeth discovers a small stone emerging from the earth within his dancing circle—something unprecedented in his experience. Alarmed by this discovery, he immediately runs to fetch his father Neturo, with Elid following in shock.