The Stone Sky

After hiding the bodies of Nida and Umber in the Guardian dorm, Schaffa, Nassun, and the remaining orogene children leave Found Moon. Once they reach the Imperial Road, Schaffa informs the children that they cannot follow him and Nassun any longer because it will not be safe. Most of the group are scared and reluctant to leave Schaffa, so he permits them to kill to protect themselves or find safety. Nassun feels responsible for the children losing their home and feels devastated, and most of them are resentful toward her.

Once the other children have left, Nassun informs Schaffa that she needs to travel to a city on the other side of the world to control the Obelisk Gate. To her surprise, Schaffa not only knows about the Obelisk Gate but also knows of a city on the other side of the world called Corepoint. Schaffa reveals that the reason he, Nida, and Umber created Found Moon was to find an orogene capable of using the Obelisk Gate. He claims this was before he started to resist Father Earth’s will, but he now suspects Father Earth had them do this because he has his own plans for what to do with humanity.

Nassun then tells Schaffa about the moon, which he confirms is real. When he asks what she intends to do, she explains all the trauma she has experienced in her young life: the injustice of being hated simply for what she is; the fact that she cannot live a normal life; the impossibility of teaching non-orogenes to be less scared of her. As she talks, she remembers finding Uche beaten to death by her father, and in a blind rage, she tells Schaffa she wants to destroy the world and put an end to all the hatred, suffering, and killing. Schaffa comforts her and promises to help her make the end she needs.

The next day, they ask Steel how to get to Corepoint. He tells them about a station that contains a vehicle that can take them. He also offers to take them himself, but Nassun refuses because she does not trust he will bring Schaffa safely.

Hoa explains that the Sylanagistines built the Plutonic Engine in an attempt to create Geoarcanity, a source of unlimited and self-perpetuating energy that they believe will rid the world of want and strife. The tuners were specifically created to run this machine, and their abilities and awareness are finely attuned with each other and the obelisk fragments to do this.

The onyx is the most important obelisk because of its role in starting the Plutonic Engine, but none of the tuners can control its power. Kelenli is more efficient and powerful and meshes with the onyx seamlessly. However, she will only be used as a last resort on Launch Day; the conductors prefer that she teach the others how to do it instead. She reasons that she is more adept at using the obelisks because she has more experience and context of the world than the tuners, who have spent their entire lives inside a complex of buildings that surround the obelisk with which they practice.

The next day, Conductor Gallat shows up to inform them they are going to be taking a trip outside with Kelenli with the hope that the experience will improve their performance before launch. Gallat has icewhite eyes, like the tuners, which they have never seen in humans before, and they all fear him because he has the power to send them to the briar patch. Before they head out, the tuners are all dressed in clothes intended to make them fit in and their faces are painted brown. While a conductor does Houwha’s hair, he implies that they will need a security detail in case people think they are something else, but he hesitates to elaborate, claiming it is complicated. Kelenli sees their makeup and demands it be removed because there’s no hiding what they are, and it only makes them more conspicuous.

While Kelenli wipes Houwha’s face, he asks why she laughs at everyone’s fear of them when she could just fit in. She replies that she does not want to fit in and that they did nothing to be feared. They are feared simply because they exist. Houwha remembers that there were once 16 tuners, but only six remain because the others were killed for questioning, disobeying, helping, despairing, or any other reason the conductors decided. He realizes this is the point Kelenli was trying to make.

The Castrima camp is attacked as dawn nears. Anticipating an attack, none of the fighters, hunters, or orogenes are asleep. Essun senses the attackers have an orogene among them, and Ykka begins to shout that they need not fight and that orogenes are welcome in their comm. While this happens, a group of raiders attack from the opposite direction. They are filthy, emaciated, and poorly equipped, so they are easily defeated. Because using orogeny will turn more of her body to stone, Essun cannot help during the fight.

When the short battle is over, Essun realizes that the orogene did not participate in the fight and is still hiding in the stone forest. She heads out to find them in the dark, and recognizing that this person’s orogeny is Fulcrum-trained, she begins talking about the traumatic experiences all Fulcrum orogenes went through. The person attempts to attack her, and she reflexively uses orogeny to defend herself, causing her left breast to turn to stone.

The unknown orogene reveals himself as Maxixe, a boy Essun was at the Fulcrum with when she was younger. Maxixe has lost one eye and both of his legs below the thighs, and the left side of his head is a mess of scars. He recognizes Essun by her orogeny and explains that the group of commless that attacked them from the other side of the forest was a different group than his. Normally they rely on his abilities to weaken groups that pass through, but he did not attack after being surprised by Ykka’s offer.

Essun repeats the offer for Maxixe to join them, but he says he will only accept if they take his people in as well, which he does not expect they will since they are weak and sick. They leave together to go talk to Ykka.