Summary

In Part Two, “The Silent Space,” Chapter 9, Noria reflects on the closeness between water and death. She considers life cycles and how people become earth when they die and the “water runs dry” (114).

After Mikoa’s death, Noria chose a spot to bury him. Her mother tried coming, but could not make it out of Xingjing. The first guests to arrive were Jukara and his wife Ninia. Bolin also attended. Although Noria knew the guests and their families, she felt “alone among them” (116). During the lament songs, Noria imagined herself as “a forest that reached upwards and crumbled down again” (118). Sanja stayed by her side the whole time. The friends noticed an unfamiliar blond man they could not place. They suspected he was a soldier, ensuring that the village did not organize a resistance “after the events of Moonfeast” (120). After the...