Thirty-Four

Exhausted and sleepless, Dafyd reviews mounting pressures: probing the archives via the spy Clae, courting the Deep Lothark, monitoring Andermus and Korham, and managing Jessyn’s grief over Jellit while counting days until Campar’s return. He proceeds with daily duties despite feeling he has the plan’s pieces but not the rest to assemble them.

At the nursery, a large portion of the human moiety gathers as Brun’s team begins decanting nearly one hundred infants from lamb sacks. Brun explains the babies’ sensory baselines and asks for communal caregiving. Dafyd carries the first baby out but refuses to name him, insisting bonds belong to caregivers. Uuya Tomos needles him about “winning,” and Dafyd admits this is not the victory he seeks. The decanting proceeds without loss; feeding begins with synthesized pseudocolostrum, inaugurating a vulnerable new generation raised by the community.

Afterward in the lab, Dafyd praises Brun’s work and outlines the need for future batches and youth integration into labor. Brun, however, confirms the planned work stoppage now that the decanting is complete, arguing it’s the only leverage to make the Carryx listen. Dafyd warns that the same act reads two ways: a labor negotiation to humans, but a direct challenge to authority to the Carryx.

When Brun refuses to back down, Dafyd applies Carryx logic to prevent greater reprisals. He has two Soft Lothark restrain Brun and places Brun’s wrist on a block. Explaining that the Carryx ritualize conflict to avoid lethal spirals, Dafyd breaks Brun’s arm—painful but survivable—so he can truthfully report the challenge resolved without escalating to death.

Facing the shocked team, Dafyd declares a department heads meeting in three days and warns that further defiance will force him to kill. He asks Clae to ensure Brun understands and returns to the nursery and the newborns, longing only for sleep.