Summary

In Chapter 5, Yetu swam and swam. Because she had spent so much time “immobile” and “lost in rememberings” of late, she “wasn’t used to this level of performance” (65). She told herself she was leaving “a world of pain” and that the wajinru “wouldn’t always be” trapped in the Remembrance (65). She dismissed her worries and focused on escape. As she swam, she encountered waters familiar to her. She wondered if she was remembering them from her past or “from the History” (67). She swam to the surface, desperate “to escape her people entirely” (68).

Once at the surface, she floated, realizing that she had abandoned her people. Because she had left, they were no longer “one people” (69).

On shore, Yetu saw a group of two-legs. Though she could breathe above water, the feeling was “new” and “uncomfortable” (71). It reminded her of the drownings that “had...