Summary

Interlude 1 switches to a first-person narration of a new character named Ishikk. Ishikk is a man who lives on the Purelake and who calls himself a Purelaker. As Ishikk walks towards the middle of his village, he reflects upon how the Purelake is like life itself and how peaceful it was compared to other lands. Ishikk walks into a building owned by a woman named Maib, who has been trying to get him to marry her for a while now. Ishikk cannot understand why Maib lives in a building and does not just sleep on a raft like him since the weather of the Purelake is temperate. In Maib's home, Ishikk meets three foreigners who complain that he is late. Ishikk cannot understand why foreigners are always in such a hurry. The three foreigners question if Ishikk has done what they have asked...