Imago

The family departs Lo for a second time and travels through the forest to search for a new home. Jodahs unwittingly develops webbed feet and a green-gray coloring in response to its surroundings. Lilith disapproves of Jodahs’s fluctuating changes and considers them a “deformity” (69).

The family discovers a resister with a broken leg and rescues him. Jodahs attaches its tentacles to the man’s body and reprograms his cells to regenerate a new leg. Jodahs feels possessive of the human when Nikanj checks its work. Ooloi subadults become possessive because they cannot form a true bond with their mates until they reach maturity. Until then, they feel threatened when other Oankali touch their human companions. Nikanj believes Jodahs shows more control with humans than with its own body, and Jodahs agrees. Nikanj cautions Jodahs to change its appearance before the man awakes, as human males are typically hostile to Oankali.

The man awakes and introduces himself as João Eduardo Villas da Silva from Brazil. Jodahs takes the form of a young, attractive woman to please him and worries that it will need to constantly change its appearance to appease its mates. João is thankful for his healing but turns angry when he learns that Jodahs is an ooloi.