Black Sun

Twenty days before the convergence, an adult Serapio gets on the ship that Balam is sending under Xiala’s direction to Tova. It has been ten years since his mother blinded him; although his childhood was lonely, he feels inspired to serve a higher purpose. Serapio waits on board the ship as the crew arrives, the confrontation with Pech occurs, and the ship sets off. He ingests star pollen to project his mind and inhabit the body of a nearby crow. Through the crow’s eyes, he sees the ship below; Xiala turns to look at him and whistles. The sudden noise throws Serapio out of the crow’s body and makes his human body bleed from the ears; none of this has happened to him before and he is startled. 

Eight years before the convergence, a teenage Serapio speaks with crows in the Obregi mountains. The crows tell him about local weather. A tutor arrives, Paadeh. Paadeh has been sent to teach Serapio how to have vision without physical sight. In this chapter, Paadeh visits; he tells Serapio that he promised Serapio’s mother he would “prepare [him] for [his] destiny” (86). Paadeh hands Serapio a chisel and a piece of wood to teach him how to carve; he asks Serapio to find the animal already present inside the wood. When Serapio talks back, Paadeh hits him hard enough to draw blood. After Paadeh leaves with a promise to return, Serapio falls asleep carving.

Nineteen days before the convergence, Naranpa and the rest of the priesthood hold a meeting in the celestial tower to prepare for their pre-winter-solstice period of isolation. They plan to meet on the winter solstice at the Sun Rock in the city of Tova to mark the occasion; the earth, sun, and moon will all be in alignment. Iktan, Naranpa’s former lover, comes in late to the meeting.

Naranpa gives a speech to the rest of the priests about remaining accessible to all the people—not just the rich or well-connected ones. One of the younger priests, Abah, wants Naranpa to give up her position as the Sun Priest—and all the power that comes with it. Naranpa becomes angry and ends the meeting just as a servant comes in bearing the news that the matriarch of Carrion Crow has died. 

In a continuation of the previous chapter, the servant who brought the news of the dead matriarch clarifies that Yatliza died in her sleep—not in another apparent assassination attempt. Naranpa dismisses the dedicants and meets with the priests to decide how to move forward, given the death. They need to plan the funeral and create star charts for both the dead woman and her successor. Naranpa delegates tasks.

As Naranpa leaves the meeting, Iktan catches up to her and reminds her not to trust Abah, the Priest of Succor. Abah knows that Naranpa’s brother Ochi, a crime lord, remains alive—even though Naranpa told everyone he died. Iktan promises to protect Naranpa. Naranpa notices a scratch on his neck, and Iktan refuses to tell her where it came from. Naranpa assumes it’s the result of a sexual encounter, though Iktan doesn’t confirm. When they get back to Naranpa’s room, Iktan checks for danger. Naranpa realizes she wants Iktan to stay, though she does not ask.

Twenty days before the convergence, Xiala directs the crew to dock the ship so all might spend a night on shore before they take to the open water on their way to Tova, the capital city. The ship’s cook is sick and says it’s a just a chill. She asks him to make a feast once they land on a nearby sandbar and build a fire to celebrate their first night at sea. Xiala goes to knock on the door to Serapio’s cabin, but just as she is about to knock, they land on shore. On shore, they feast, and Xiala worries about how the crew will treat her once she tells them what’s ahead on their journey—open water, for this trip, is much more dangerous than sticking to the coast, but open water is the only way they will get Serapio to Tova within the timeline Lord Balam requested.

Her crew, led by first mate Callo, agree to the quick timeline, which Xiala finds to be a relief. She promises to use her Teek powers to calm the sea and avoid the danger of a storm. Xiala decides to head back to the ship to sleep, but as she does Serapio emerges from his ship cabin for the first time.

The events of Chapter 11 are retold through Serapio’s perspective. Most of all, Serapio wants to be in the company of others. He has never had a human friend, and he wants one. Though blind, Serapio finds his way off the boat and onto the sandbar where the crew sits around the fire, eating and drinking. His presence—in a black cloak, wearing a black blindfold, with red-stained teeth—scares them, and Xiala has the crew get him a plate before guiding him back to the ship to eat. She shows him how to eat a fish cooked whole as they discuss the on-again off-again warmth of the crew. She tells him to come out among the crew on the following day, wearing a white skirt like the others.

Six years before the convergence, a teenage Serapio is visited by a new tutor, one who also knew his mother. The tutor tells Serapio’s father that she’s there to teach Serapio how to see using a staff, although she’s really there to teach him how to fight while blind. She knocks down all of Serapio’s carvings and tells him he’ll have to make her stop. So he does: he holds a chisel in one hand and a magic shadow in the other; he throws both at her. She falls and tells him that he’s a villain for trying to “tear out [her] f*cking eye!” (147). The tutor leaves to find a healer, and when she returns she asks him how he learned to use magic shadows. He does not entirely know. The tutor gives him a bone staff to use in his training.