Still dreaming, Sola does not turn to face him or acknowledge him, yet there is a shared feeling that they must not talk because contraband is stuffed in the bilge between them, “cargo that would be dangerous for them to look at or even acknowledge.” They continue paddling  upstream forever and they are close, yet far apart.

S wakes up as the tarp is pulled off his face and the sunlight washes over him. The trio is almost at their destination. In the valley, all around them are “dramatic, russet-colored cliffs” that rise thousands of meters above. Each green hill contains a carefully carved red rock patch on its face. Inside the patches re hieroglyphs, such as a bird of prey, an eye, a sun and fish. These hieroglyphs were probably made by Anca and Wacar’s ancestors who dominated the land centuries before Vevoda’s ambush.