Summary

In Chapter 4, the narration returns to the third person point of view. Syenite, a four ring orogene, is unhappy with the way her meeting with Feldspar is going. She has been assigned a mentor for a mission to clear a harbor of coral, but Syen does not think that she needs help. She realizes that having a ten-ringer orogene mentor is an opportunity to breed even before Feldspar points out that she has six children.

Syen goes to find the man who is to be her mentor. She sees him only as a trial to be endured at that point. So, she is surprised when he answers the door rudely. She is shocked when he starts to close the door in her face, but she tells him her name. That does not have any effect on him except to make him inhale as...