Summary

In Chapter 46, Ven cannot tell how much time passes. He conducts his religious rituals, though in different ways because of his situation. He also prays, though he feels these acts are meaningless without the unity of all humanity. Ven serves upstairs more often. One day, a guard describes dropping firebombs on a city and says Jia is about to plead for peace. The next day, weevils have ruined the stored rice. A man asks if Ven can bless him. Ven rudely says blessings are only meant to remind one to do right. The man helps Ven with a particularly nasty chore later, which he had never done in the past. Georg summons Ven one night. They talk about the war. When Georg says the Temple has always been a way to control man, Ven says that Georg is doing exactly the same thing...