Interlude II: Uzan-iya

Deep into her apprenticeship, Carolyn lives almost entirely within the Library, mastering dozens of languages and contemplating the Atul concept of uzan-iya—the first turn of the heart toward murder. Hunger drives her into Garrison Oaks, where the reanimated “dead ones” maintain ordinary routines, revealing the unsettling limits of Father’s partial resurrections.

Thunder heralds Father’s return. He presents Margaret with a shattered arm and demands to know why she does not cry. When David admits teaching her gahn ayrial (self-anesthesia outside her catalog), Father leads them to a life-sized bronze bull—his grill—and orders David inside, signaling brutal punishment for sharing knowledge.

The children and dead ones build a bonfire beneath the bull. As the bronze glows, David’s screams finally begin, and Father smiles in the firelight. The ordeal lasts days. When the bull cools, David’s body is nearly cooked to bone, yet his craft has sustained him unnaturally long.

Jennifer, aided by the others, undertakes a week-long resurrection: powders, water, arcane ingredients, and numbing his pain when Father permits. Gradually David’s tissues regenerate until he sleeps, breathing evenly. Father returns, wakes him, and issues a clear edict in Pelapi: no more sharing of catalogs.

Afterward, Margaret’s odd affection surfaces, but David grows quieter, harsher—later breaking Michael’s arm over a disputed wager. At a subsequent feast, Carolyn catches David looking at the fire with the dead light of uzan-iya. She realizes his love for Father has been extinguished and begins to ponder how, one day, David’s turn toward murder might be used.