Summary

A new Portia watches an artistic performance of the martyr Fabian. She feels bored as she does not want to retrieve the correct Understanding from the library to understand the play. She leaves and climbs higher into the Seven Trees wishing she could see the stars. Her Fabian climbs the tree and dances for her, and Portia avoids her primal urge to eat him once they finish as this tradition is no longer followed. Elsewhere in the temple, Bianca, who can hold more Understandings than the average spider, uses her rare ability to look back on generations of study and progress. She sees herself as the culmination of her ancestor’s work.

In the morning, Portia goes out into the farmland with Viola and Fabian. The skynest, a type of blimp, lands...