The Stone Sky

Hoa claims that his memory of events is improving as he retells the story.

Going outside for the first time initially overwhelms the tuners, as they are suddenly forced to use senses they normally ignore. They settle down once they see the amethyst obelisk in full for the first time; Houwha feels irrationally proud of the obelisk.

As they walk to the first site Kelenli wants to show them, Houwha begins to feel embarrassed that he and the other tuners are standing out so much and he tries to emulate Kelenli, who fits in. The first stop is a building, unlike the rest they have seen in Syl Anagist. Houwha describes the building as being dead, as it is made of brick, concrete, and marble, rather than the genetically engineered cellulose that the rest of the city is constructed from. It is also not connected to the city alarm grid, and the tuners fear that the building is not structurally sound or safe to enter.

Kelenli convinces them to enter. They walk past rows of exhibits displaying relics from the past on the way to the thing they came to see. At first, Houwha thinks it is another Plutonic Engine, though much smaller. However, after further inspection, both visually and with his sessapinae, he is astonished by its elegance. He comments that it is more efficient and powerful than the Plutonic Engine they are a part of, and the object confuses him because it produces more energy than the magic being fed into it. Moreover, the only purpose he can surmise for the object is that it exists to be beautiful. This realization frightens him, and Kelenli encourages him to think about why she has brought them to see it. Eventually, he realizes that because the object has no purpose or function, it could not have been created by the Sylanagistines. When he asks Kelenli who created it, she simply replies, “You,” and promises to show them more.

Ykka accepts Maxixe and his group, despite their serious ailments, because they bring supplies, knowledge of the area, and orogenic expertise with them that will help her people survive. Essun has fully recovered from her coma and struggles with the urge to go chasing after Nassun, but she stays with the Castrima group because she doesn’t know where Nassun is and wants to ensure there is a home for her to go to once she finds her.

Hoa eats Essun’s left breast, which had turned to stone after using orogeny when she found Maxixe. Afterward, he informs Essun that Nassun is planning to use the Obelisk Gate as well and that he thinks he knows where she is going. Furious that Hoa had been keeping this from her, Essun demands to be left alone, but before he leaves, Hoa tells her that Nassun killed Jija.

Hoa transports Essun through the earth to the place where Jija died. While checking out the Found Moon compound, Essun is approached by a young man from the village nearby. Essun pretends to be a Guardian, and the man catches her up on everything that has happened there. The revelation that Schaffa is not only still alive but also with her daughter causes her so much horror and fear that she almost loses control and kills the man. The man says that Schaffa seemed affectionate and protective of Nassun.

Essun realizes that the Fulcrum Schaffa has set up is different from the ones at the original Fulcrum. She also realizes that he protected Nassun from Jija and that even after witnessing her use an obelisk, he did not kill her. She recognizes that Schaffa is giving Nassun a form of love that neither she nor Jija did. After the man from the village leaves, it dawns on Essun that she has turned Nassun into a version of herself. This makes her terrified of her daughter. She realizes she does not want to go near her ever again.

Essun begins to question what purpose she has left, and Hoa tries to comfort her by reminding her that she has her life, a comm, and a new home once they reach Rennanis. He then reminds her that he cannot die, suggesting that it is safe for her to love him.

Nassun and Schaffa continue to walk through the underground tunnel they have entered. When they stop to rest for the night, Nassun asks Schaffa about Guardians and their purpose and tells him she thinks they are awful. He responds that he used to love the orogenes under his care—or he believed he did—and the cruelties he committed were to keep them safe because the alternative was genocide. He admits that this happened anyway, but because orogenes are essential for everyone else’s survival, they cannot be permitted to die out completely, nor can they have any choice in the matter. Instead, they needed to be turned into tools. Nassun realizes that this did not happen by chance but was made to happen by the Guardians throughout history. She considers the immensity of the hatred and suffering orogenes are subjected to, and the impossibility of overcoming it, and feels even more certain that the only path forward is to destroy the world.

When they finally reach the bottom of the cavern, Steel is waiting for them. He informs Nassun that the transport system he told them about is non-functional and needs power. Steel tells her to go inside the archways and to provide power at the root. Nassun doesn’t understand but goes ahead with Schaffa anyway. Their new path leads to a giant column that is wrapped in a ropelike twist of vines. Most of them appear dead and decaying, but one looks like it might still be alive. Nassun reaches inside it with her orogenic senses and discovers that it is alive, but also mechanical and artificial. Where the magical silver should be are what she perceives as negative spaces that can be filled. She realizes that the vine is pulling on her more and more and understands this is how she can power the system. To ensure the vine does not completely drain her, she reaches to the sapphire to channel its power.

After she has filled the vine with silver, the cavern’s lights come on, and a large, iridescent beetle-like vehicle comes toward them, floating down a track. The vehicle appears to have skin and to be alive, though it flickers between solidity and translucence like an obelisk.

Steel appears and confirms that if she had not used the obelisk, the process would have killed her. He also implies that Schaffa should have been able to do it, which causes Nassun to get very emotional. She feels like it is her fault that Schaffa has lost everything he had, including his old Guardian powers. He reassures her that it is not her fault but is almost overcome with the pain of his corestone. Nassun tells him that he is not her Guardian anymore, but her new father, and that he has to let her protect him sometimes.

Steel warns Nassun that it is a mistake to bring Schaffa with her, but she ignores him, and they enter the vehicle together.

On the way to the next site, the tuners face abuse from passersby, only some of which they understand. One man even tries to attack them. Houwha realizes that he is not normal by Sylanagistine standards, and feels less proud of what he is, but does not fully understand why.

Kelenli shows them through a house she claims to occasionally live in, and seeing the comfort, décor, and color of the different rooms makes Houwha realize that his room back at the complex is actually a prison cell. Kelenli takes them into a small brick house in the garden. After looking around, Houwha realizes that this must be her home.

Kelenli explains her history: She grew up with Conductor Gallat and was told that they were siblings. In reality, she was an experiment and he was the control. She was not told that she was different, and she did all the things normal Sylanagistine girls did, but her parents never treated her the same as Gallat. The goal of the experiment was to see if she could be human if she was raised by an ordinary, Sylanagistine family. The tuners are confused as to why she would ever be considered less than human, and Kelenli is surprised at how little they know, and resolves to tell them more.

Kelenli then gives the tuners a history lesson about how they came to be and why they are hated by the people of Syl Anagist. She explains that long ago, the Stillness was made up of three distinct landmasses. Syl Anagist was a small part of one of these lands but eventually expanded until they covered the entire earth. One of the peoples they conquered along the way were the Niess. The Niess fought to protect their land but eventually were forced to spread out and assimilate around Syl Anagist, though they managed to keep their language and many of their customs alive. Some of their features—such as ashblow hair and icewhite eyes—also survived.

Problems eventually arose over their conflicting beliefs about magic. Syl Anagist was built on a foundation of magic, and they saw it as a valuable resource, whereas the Niess did not believe it was something that could be owned. They produced Plutonic Engines that existed just to look beautiful or be thought-provoking. This “art” ran more efficiently and better than anything the Sylanagistine had ever produced, and they responded by creating a culture of hatred and oppression that explained the Niess’ abilities with magic by dehumanizing them. They spread the idea that Niess sessapinae were fundamentally more sensitive to magic, but also less controlled and less civilized. Eventually, the Niess were wiped out, and it became clear that their rumored sessapinae did not exist, so Syl Anagist created the tuners, based on their exaggerated myths and lies, to justify their genocide and to finally make their old enemy useful in a way that was acceptable to them.

Kelenli tells Houwha that she brought them to this place and told them these things because she wants to continue the Niess tradition of being a lorist—a kind of cultural truth-teller. Houwha, confused and angry after having his entire worldview and sense of self upended by Kelenli’s history lesson, snaps at her that he does not want to know any of these things. She reminds him that while he is not what he thought he was, that does not change what he can do. Houwha asks what happened to the Niess, and Kelenli tells him they will find out tomorrow, as she is going to take everyone to see them in the morning.