Dawn

Kahguyaht takes Lilith to see Sharad, the boy she had been confined with. Jdahya offers to come along, but Lilith does not want to be treated like a child. Lilith wonders to herself about Oankali sexual relations, with three people involved, and she questions why Jdahya would be connected to someone as unlikeable as Kahguyaht.

Lilith and Kahguyaht walk through corridors, passing many Oankali who are either walking or riding in wheel-less vehicles that float slightly above the ground. Kahguyaht guides Lilith using one of its big tentacles, so she asks about them. Kahguyaht explains that they are called sensory arms but will not explain what they are for. Lilith angrily pulls her arm from its tentacle, and she becomes lost in the crowd, unable to tell any of the ooloi apart. She calls out its name and finds that it’s right next to her, angering Lilith further.

The pair come to an empty corridor. Kahguyaht runs a sensory arm along the wall, making an opening. A green, semi-transparent shape emerges, and Kahguyaht massages it, explaining that it’s a plant. When the plant begins to open, Lilith realizes that Sharad is inside. Lilith wants to speak to Sharad but knows that pleading will do no good. Kahguyaht touches the plant again, and it closes up. When the Oankali found these plants, Kahguyaht explains, they were carnivores that captured their prey and very slowly killed them while feeding off their bodies. The prey slept through the process, so the Oankali modified the plants, making the plants instead put people in suspended animation.

Lilith asks what the Oankali did to the plants to keep them from eating people. Kahguyaht replies that they altered the plants genetically and changed them to respond to ooloi chemical commands. Lilith says that similar changes could be made to humans to kill them or turn their children into “monsters” who are infertile, but Kahguyaht tells her that the Oankali have never done such a thing.

Once they return to the family home, Kahguyaht leaves Lilith with the child Nikanj, saying, “You will teach it about your people and it will teach you about the Oankali” (55). Nikanj speaks a little English and says that Lilith can teach it further.

Nikanj asks Lilith to go outside. In return, Lilith asks Nikanj to show her how to open the door. It hesitates, then takes her hand and holds her fingers to the door, which opens to Nikanj’s chemical stimuli. Lilith feels bitter that she cannot open the door herself, since it will not recognize her own body chemistry. Lilith asks Nikanj why it wants to take her outside and, after some language difficulties, realizes that it wants to show her off to its friends.

Nikanj’s friends poke at Lilith and ask Nikanj questions through tentacle touches. Lilith becomes angry about being treated like a strange animal and moves away from the children. She sharply tells Nikanj that she wants to go back and must explain that she does not want to be shown off to people she cannot communicate with. As they return, Lilith realizes that she is shaken and wonders, “How did zoo animals feel?” (58). Lilith wants to be alone to calm herself.

Nikanj touches her forehead with its tentacles and leads her to a room in the family’s apartment, telling her to rest and sleep. Instead of being alone, Lilith realizes that Jdahya is in the room and he refuses to leave, even when she shouts at him. Lilith goes to hide in the bathroom and when she comes out again, Nikanj has replaced Jdahya in the room.

Lilith is fearful of the changes the Oankali might bring about in humans and wonders if she has already been modified. She wonders if she actually ever had a tumor, or if that was a lie. She realizes that she can’t know if anything they had told her was a lie, or why they would even bother to lie in the first place. Again she wonders why she had not been able to accept Jdahya’s offer of death.

Lilith falls asleep, and when she wakes briefly, she finds that Nikanj has joined her on the bed. She thinks about pushing it away but goes back to sleep wearily.

Lilith sees no sign of other humans. The Oankali do not appear to lie though they openly explain when they cannot tell her the full truth of something she wants to know. Lilith is frustrated and feels hopeless about her situation.

Lilith does enjoy Nikanj’s company and senses that the Oankali family “gave” it to her to help her transition. Nikanj is eager to learn not just English, but also about human culture, history, and biology. Lilith speculates that the Oankali put Sharad in her isolation room with her to see how she behaved with a child who needed to be taught her language. Nikanj learns English much faster than Lilith learns the Oankali language; Lilith wishes she could see the written version of the language. Nikanj refuses to give her paper or any kind of writing implement, saying that its people have decided that humans are not to have any materials to read or write. It will not say why, which frustrates Lilith.

Lilith wonders about what the Oankali intend to do with her and with humanity, and whether the humans are part of a captive breeding program. She is desperate to talk to another human to discuss her fears and questions.

Lilith begins to slip away from Nikanj whenever she can, wandering about on her own. Nikanj tells her that if she becomes lost, to say her new name, Dhokaaltediinjdahyalilith eka Kahguyaht aj Dinso, to any Oankali. The “dho” prefix means that she was an adopted non-Oankali, and “eka” means child, a being too young to be recognized as having a sex. On one of her walks, Lilith hears some Oankali use their word for humans, and they use the human name Fukumoto. Lilith tries to eavesdrop on more conversations about Fukumoto and learns that he seems to live with a kinship group called Tiej, so she sets off to find him.

Lilith becomes discouraged, realizing how impossible it is for her to find her way. Oankali use scent markings rather than written signs, which she cannot detect. She decides to try and return “home” and buries her lunch scraps before leaving, as she was told to do. The ground suddenly becomes discolored and putrid, which brings Oankali over to her. The plant near the putrid ground begins to writhe in what appears to be agony, and Lilith calls out for help in her limited Oankali. An ooloi steps forward and touches the ground with its sensory arms, repairing the damage.

The ooloi is Kahguyaht, who says to Lilith, “So you finally found something to poison” (69). It explains to Lilith that she can bury her food scraps in Kaal, where they live, but not in other areas. It asks why Lilith came to Tiej. When she refuses to answer, it tells her that Fukumoto died recently, which is why she must have heard Oankali talking about him. Fukumoto had chosen to live with the Oankali, rather than being returned to Earth. Kahguyaht tells Lilith that once she learns their language, it will take her to another human who has chosen that path, then tells Lilith to follow it home.