While S and Corbeau walk, they become more absorbed in their conversation than in the world around them. As they do so, they also begin to relax and walk freely. S asks if Corbeau is in a relationship with Stenfalk and she says no. She goes on to say that Ostrero’s wife thinks of her actions as “Some sort of free-floating carnal witchery.” (132) Her comment about Ostrero’s wife shows that the culture is fairly conservative socially-sex out of wedlock is seems to be discouraged. The fact that Stengalk and Corbeau-a man and woman working together-become romantically interested in each other parallels the trajectory of Jen and Eric’s relationship.

The fact that S asks Corbeau about Stenfalk leads Jen to suspect that S is attracted to Corbeau, citing their interactions in the cave. This foreshadows a future scene where S and Corbeau are forced into a stressful situation together. Eric notes that even though S may be attracted to Corbeau, “he doesn’t want to backstab Stenfalk,” (132) which is interesting because even though he can’t remember anything about himself, he still has a sense of honor. This implies that either he has some recollection of his past values, that he has quickly developed values in his brief time in society, or that human nature is intrinsically good, and he holds these values naturally.

Leading off of that conversation, Eric asks Jen if her ex-boyfriend of three years, Jacob, cheated. Jen responds that she “(doesn’t) know the details and (doesn’t) want to” (132), revealing that she may still have some lingering feelings for him.

In green and orange, one of the later batches of notes, Jen attempts to prompt Eric into a sexual conversation by saying that they “could use some of that (free-floating carnal witchery)” (132). This blatantly sexual language is unusual for Jen and Eric, who are normally scholarly in nature, and it makes Eric uncomfortable. He doesn’t respond at first, and then when prompted, explains that he’s not good at flirting. Later, Jen writes that space is filling up, to which Eric responds “What if you quit making such a mess of it?” (132) This could represent frustration from Eric at Jen’s wanting to bring personal affairs into their study, though that seems unlikely since he seems to be very attracted to her at other points in the novel.