S’s mind returns to the present moment and he notices the Anca’s baby staring at him. The baby’s stare is “so disconcerting that S sighs audibly when it finally drifts to sleep.” He then relaxes, watching the peaceful sky above him and the kingfishers that are flying from one branch to another. Waqar covers S in more netting, but S does not understand why even more caution is needed.

FXC commentates that the baby’s presence in Ship of Theseus likely has significant meaning. She believes Straka meant to suggest something. yet “what he meant is far from obvious.”  She senses that the purpose of the baby is proof to readers that there is “no place for him in a conventional family life,” forcing Straka to continue living his lonely and  anonymous life.

Jen notes, “Is he imagining the baby he never had with Filomela?” Perhaps Straka is expressing his lament that he was never able to lead a normal life and raise kids with Filomela as he wished.