Chapter 5

Celcha recalls that the speaking assistant is called Yute, though no one uses the name. Librarian Sellna Smith, senior but not head, explains that Celcha and Hellet were acquired to replace two ganar recently killed in an “accident.” Their main duty is to help open deeper doors that respond to ganar touch. Sellna pointedly asks why the assistant spoke to them, revealing institutional unease with anomalies.

Celcha and Hellet receive a shared room once used by the dead ganar. Sellna emphasizes that doors open only by willing participants, hinting at past failures of coercion. Life improves: they may roam the library, eat with staff, and are encouraged to handle books. They are warned away from fruit like apples, dangerous to ganar.

Ablesan, a young canith trainee, attempts to teach them to read, delivering a condescending history of the ganar’s origins. Hellet’s knowledge from Maybe corrects the record: their people came from Attamast, whose nights shaped ganar sleep needs and whose atmosphere left ganar weaker on this world.

On their first venture into the vast stacks, Celcha accompanies librarians Sternus and Markeet with trainees. The immensity of the chambers awes Celcha, but her years underground blunt any claustrophobia. Memories of the dig’s brutality and Myles Carstar’s lethal “encouragements” shadow her impressions.

Trainees treat Celcha as a pet; some touch her fur. Lutna, an empathetic eleven-year-old, asks about Celcha’s nootki. Celcha explains they are tokens of hope, each carved by a different person. A boy’s mockery triggers memories of her father’s cherished pebbles stolen by an overseer.

Walking with Lutna, Celcha realizes her anger is not fleeting but tectonic—“the heat of a planetary core.” The comforts of the library only sharpen the contrast with past crimes. She sees Sellna’s attempt to win their loyalty as miscalculated and silently aligns with Hellet’s uncompromising intent to destroy their oppressors.