Epiphany

Aneti sends Salus a text message by accident — a rookie move that could give Liga some of the access le needs.

Salus, back in the archives, discovers documents and materials that are perspective-changing — along with an old photograph of smiling people at a party. In that photograph, a woman sits. The camera glints off of ler elaborate locked hairstyle and braided headdress. Le holds a spoon in ler mouth, caught in the middle of eating …

Aneti rushes up to the rooftop in seclusion just as Salus is coming into work, and Salus decides to follow. Meanwhile, the satellite home is strained. Salus' cousin Gyetsuk keeps inviting the nuamė-not-nuamė Deisurås to eat breakfast, and no one — Salus especially — is amused by these breakfast visitations.

Salus figures out one of the muffled sentences le overheard in Shiji and meets Karatau Meiyenesi, who claims to know Salus' grandmother very well. But Karatau Meiyenesi has red, nuamė-like eyes — just like Deisurås and Okiyot.

Aneti comes over to the apartment for dinner with Salus, and the latter learns that Aneti's sister died and receives no ancestor rites from that family. The more important revelation happens during sex.

Salus ruminates over what le uncovered in the library and its implications for ler family. So many things about Sehutañi don't add up — and Salus has been losing sleep. One thing Salus is sure of: Whatever le does, le wants it to mean something in the long run.

Salus visits the Galasu Knowledge Foundation and meets Deo, a reference librarian, to learn more about the Daybreak Movement.

Liga and Salus finally touch base about Salus' work — but Liga is withholding information. How can Salus trust someone who never says what le means directly?

Salus' family is ready to play matchmaker between lim and an upstart woman from the Canyons two years younger, Kitesrati. The secret of Aneti's seduction means that Salus cannot say that le is overwhelmed by courting two women at once. Meanwhile, at the office, everyone has convened to honor a major party member's retirement.

Salus and Aneti visit Aneti's matriarchal home, this time while both are sober — a rare chance to glimpse Aneti's private life. However, things are never that simple.