“No one must know of such pages! Be careful and never mention them again!” Hurmaz warns him. So, he was right! Hurmaz wanted him to find the pages but didn’t want to hand them straight to Tirad. But why is it such a great secret? The Spawn-Scorching ceremony has come to end and the guards are sending the pilgrims out of the deck. The disciples, maids and students start going towards the cabins, paying respect to Hurmaz and Tirad on their way. They are in hurry not to miss the Ship dinner. Tirad waits for the crowd to scatter. Some pilgrims have lined up behind the Ship entrance for the free food of the Ship. The maids will come out shortly to distribute the food. Hurmaz seems to be in a hurry too. Perhaps it’s the sharp and direct sunlight that bothers him or maybe talking to Tirad as people keep passing by. He doesn’t seem interested in continuing the conversation and wants to send Tirad off. Tirad has to cling to the best question he can find, to delay the end of their talk.

“Why are we leaving today? We were supposed to go tomorrow?” he asks. Hurmaz puts his hand on Tirad’s shoulder again and slowly leads him to the corner of the deck by the wall, to a more private place. Hurmaz tries to stand in the narrow shade of the wall.

“You are leaving today because of the two fugitive women you took in yesterday! They have to leave this Ship as soon as possible. Last night, three women were trying to break in into the Ship. The guards had to stop them. They wanted to come inside in the middle of the night and finish them off!” Hurmaz explains. Tirad doesn’t know whether he should apologise for the trouble or not. It wasn’t his fault, but he feels sorry anyway. Perhaps it was better to leave the two women alone and not protect them. If Mart were responsible for the ruling, what would he have done? Or Hurmaz? But Tirad couldn’t bear to watch the women being beaten to death.

“What do we do about their tattoos? We should have done it today…” Tirad asks.

“I couldn’t let them out! You have to be very careful and take them out of the Island safely and in one piece! Especially when you are boarding the boat. If your ruling becomes undermined, your word will mean nothing anymore… Do the tattoo in Oxan!” Hurmaz replies. Tirad thanks him and shakes his head showing that he has understood. He wants to ask about Dalia, why she doesn’t have any hair or nails. It doesn’t seem like the right moment. He shouldn’t pay any more attention to the girl as it might jeopardise his ruling, making Hurmaz think that he might have some kind of feelings toward them. He changes the subject and asks about the Circle’s decision. Hurmaz takes out a piece of paper from the bag that hangs around his neck.