The Fifth Season: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Syenite and Alabaster are in their room, having just had their usual daily sex, when they receive a telegram from Yumenes. It says only “REMAIN AT LOCATION. AWAIT INSTRUCTIONS.” Syenite paces around the room—a smaller one than before, as a week has passed since the obelisk appeared and Allia is no longer funding their stay—frustratedly wondering aloud what the telegram means. Alabaster shrugs off her questions and suggests that they at least enjoy themselves while they’re here, and Syenite admits to herself that staying on the coast has been very pleasant.

Alabaster says that it’s likely the Fulcrum wants Syenite to stay in Allia so that she can meet with geomests and maybe get more business for the Fulcrum in the process. Indeed, geomests and every other kind of scholar have been coming to Allia ever since the obelisk appeared, and many have already interviewed Syenite. The politics of the Fulcrum don’t make sense to her, though, and she’s uneasy that no Guardians have contacted them yet. Early on, Alabaster had warned her not to tell anyone that she can make a connection with the obelisks—not even him. He explained that she is to say that the object rose up on its own when she shifted the coral. Syenite doesn’t understand this extreme secrecy, but she goes along with it.

Still frustrated and confused, Syenite says she’s going for a walk. Alabaster invites himself along, though she clearly wants to be alone, as he notes that someone has already tried to kill one of them here in Allia. Syenite remembers his poisoning—she prefers to believe that it was a result of incompetence in the kitchen, or at worst Asael getting back at the man who humiliated her. The two leave the room and walk toward the harbor. The sun is setting, and Allia is beautiful in the golden light. Children play on the beach nearby as Alabaster and Syen stop to admire the view.

The obelisk is still hovering over the harbor, and both Alabaster and Syenite can sense it emitting occasional weak pulses of energy. Alabaster suddenly starts acting like he’s bashful and flirting with Syenite, and he uses this as a cover to talk discreetly. She catches on and takes his arm, also realizing that no one else can sess the pulse coming from the obelisk. Alabaster says that something is wrong with it, and that it’s tilted to one side as well. They start walking again, still talking quietly to each other. Syenite notes that people here actually nod to them as they pass—no one in Yumenes would ever acknowledge a rogga.

Alabaster continues, saying that it’s too risky to speak in their room. The Fulcrum is keeping them in Allia because Syenite raised the broken obelisk, and they are surely concerned about controlling the orogene who can control the obelisk. Syenite then realizes that Alabaster can connect with the obelisks as well, and that was what he was doing on the night of the node maintainer’s hot spot and his own poisoning at Allia. Alabaster admits that this is true, but that no one else knows, and Syenite must act like she doesn’t know either.

Syenite asks why Alabaster is being so cautious about speaking when there’s clearly no one else around. He explains that a skilled orogene can pick up vibrations through a building’s foundations in the earth, and even parse them into words. Syenite feels like this must be impossible, but Alabaster says that he can do it, and Syen herself probably can with more practice. He then notes that most of his children are probably as powerful as he is—and Syen realizes what he’s saying. None of Alabaster’s children were allowed to grow up at the Fulcrum. They were all made into node maintainers, and they have the potential to listen in on any conversation almost anywhere in the Stillness.

This revelation horrifies Syenite. Alabaster then tells her that it’s really the Guardians that they have to worry about, not the Fulcrum. Syenite wonders, as she has before, who exactly the Guardians are and who they answer to. Syen and Alabaster have now reached the boardwalk along the edge of the cove. Syenite notices a shirtless man sitting on the railing nearby, first because he is extremely attractive and then because he is staring directly at them—and finally because he is wearing the burgundy uniform of a Guardian. Alabaster whispers that it’s not his Guardian, and then he warns Syenite to not let the Guardian touch her with his bare skin.

Alabaster greets the Guardian, who jumps down from the railing and introduces himself as Edki Guardian Warrant. Edki knows both of their names, and comments on how busy they’ve been here in Allia. Syenite notices Alabaster tensing up beside her. Edki scornfully comments on Alabaster’s work with the obelisk. Angry that she’s being condescended to even now—as people assume Alabaster must have done everything—Syen says that she was the one who did the job. She immediately realizes that this was a mistake, as Alabaster hisses. She feels him drive his power straight down into the earth, even to the magma beneath the earth’s crust, clearly preparing to fight the Guardian.

Edki mentions Alabaster’s old Guardian, Leshet, and says that they have found her and need to talk about what Alabaster did to her. Syenite then notices that Edki is now holding a short, stubby black “glassknife.” Syenite starts to speak, but suddenly Alabaster knocks her to the ground. She gets up angrily to see that Alabaster is on the ground as well, choking for breath and trying to scream, though no sound comes out. Edki stands over him, taunting him for miscalculating and thinking that he would attack Syenite rather than Alabaster himself, and Syen notices with horror that the Guardian has a look of pure delight on his face. She also sees what is wrong with Alabaster—the short knife is buried in his shoulder.

Edki know draws another knife, this one long and thin and familiar to Syenite. She backs away and tries to use her orogeny, but suddenly realizes that she cannot. She has heard rumors about this, that Guardians can mute an orogenes’ power, and that some are specially trained only to hunt down rogue orogenes. Syen feels sure that Edki is one of these, and he’s about to kill her now. Syen speaks, trying to delay the inevitable, but also remembering that it is “her duty to die, if he wills it.” But then she feels that “this is not right.” Edki lunges with the knife.

Time seems to stop. Syenite still cannot sess anything, and she can see Alabaster convulsing in agony nearby. Suddenly she becomes incredibly angry, feeling that it’s not her duty to obey the Guardians at all, because what they do is fundamentally immoral. Then her attention turns to the nearby garnet obelisk. With Edki’s knife still traveling toward her heart, Syenite sees Alabaster silently warn her against what she is about to do, but Syenite’s rage and sense of injustice takes over and she feels herself drawn back into the obelisk.

This time Syenite feels like she is not in control of the obelisk at all, and as she passes through its broken parts, she herself feels shattered and screams in agony. Finally, she stops, hovering before the stone eater trapped in the garnet—all while her physical body is still lying on the boardwalk, about to be stabbed. The stone eater looks like a young man made of marble, but he’s cracked all the way through. “Are you all right?” Syenite wonders, though she is sure that the stone eater is dead. But suddenly, the stone eater moves—it looks at her and says, “I’m fine. Thank you for asking.” Then, the obelisk shatters.