Chapter 33

At the custodi offices, Ana explains to Ippeas and Fotia that two killers plagued Lacanthim: Jalin Burav and Trikao Armenta. She reconstructs Trikao’s discovery of Jalin’s web on Lyimo’s death, his coercion of Jalin, and his long plot: poisoning select inns used by Armenta travelers, then triggering varied, unlinked deaths.

Ana details Sagma’s conditioning through morning dress and ribbons, leading to her staged hanging, and Trikao’s plan to eliminate Castus via conditioning in the flensing halls and a hanging that would both condemn Castus and implicate the Buravs once Zansay’s fruited skull revealed the web. Trikao even infected himself and used ear wax to avoid his own pipe’s influence, all while manipulating inheritance and selecting ineffective medikkers for Velona.

Ippeas reels as Ana reveals records showing Velona has already named him sole heir, likely finalized after Castus’s death. When Ippeas asks after his father, Din reports Trikao survived the lypi lance and seeks a visit. Ippeas refuses, and Din goes alone to the fortified medikker ward.

Din tells the weakened Trikao that Ippeas will sell the entire Armenta spread, dividing it among many buyers to end the house. Trikao, who claims he acted “for” Ippeas, is devastated by the message and by Ippeas’s rejection: “I never asked for it.”

Back at the Green Drover, Din questions how Ana avoided conditioning; she proposes a cover story about ear wax but offers no real answer. Tauri arrives, pressing for the web’s origin. Ana concedes they still don’t know whether the web was altered for humans or always worked so, but declares they will return to the woods to find its source.