 Orla, alone at her home, realises that her life with Samah has been devoid of love, and that she is in love with Alfred, who has the power not only to feel love himself but to induce it in others, in making her feel empathy and compassion for the Patryns and the mensch.Orla goes to the library, and finds Alfred, who has read in the scroll that several Sartan had sensed the existence of a higher power, just as Alfred did whilst in the Chamber of the Damned on Abarrach.Orla tries to justify why she and the others who discovered the higher power didn't resist the Sundering more strongly.