The Obelisk Gate

Nassun reflects on childhood memories of her parents. Regarding Essun, she remembers the strict rules, the constant commands, the physical punishment, and the “[endless] displeasure” that her mother inflicted upon her to teach her how to hide her orogeny. Her memories of Jija are the opposite: He made her toys, took her fishing on his days off, and told her stories about the stars. He never punished her or had strict expectations and was never too tired to talk to her at the end of the day.

One day, Jija instinctively knocks her off the wagon when she attempts to touch his arm. Before she has even processed what happened, Jija scrambles down to check on her, tears streaming down his face. It is in this moment that the shockwave from the Rifting reaches them. The world around them is torn apart, but despite being in shock from the fall, Nassun manages to hold down the ground around them while spinning a torus (an area of orogeny) that protects them from flying debris.

Once the shockwave has passed, Jija has the same look of violent rage about him as when he killed Uche, and he questions if Nassun is responsible for the shockwave. Using orogeny caused a spike in adrenaline that has cleared Nassun’s head. For the first time since leaving Tirmino, she understands her father’s contempt for her as an orogene. Her heart breaks but her instinct to survive takes over. She realizes that she can manipulate her father by appealing to his parental instincts. She calls him “Daddy,” she inflects her voice in the necessary ways, and she calms him down. Despite everything, the last thing she wants is to go back to Tirmino now that she is finally free of her mother. She informs Jija that many of the nearby towns have been destroyed and that it is likely the start of a new Season. Jija initially wants to go back toward Tirmino, but Nassun softly tells him, “Mama knows, Daddy” (86). It is enough, and they continue to journey south.

Essun asks Tonkee (a traveler who joined her on the way to Castrima who is interested in science generally and the obelisks especially) what she knows about moons and satellites. Tonkee hasn’t heard of a moon before, but she is familiar with satellites, which she says are objects whose motion and position are dependent upon another object. This makes the obelisks a kind of satellite since they converged on Essun when she was living in Tirmino (this is how Tonkee was able to find Essun in The Fifth Season).

Much of Tonkee’s knowledge comes from objects, maps, and books that her family has access to because they are part of the Leadership caste. She admits that much of it is probably propaganda intended to legitimize their position in society, but elements of it appear to be true. This is how she knew how to find the obelisk “socket” hidden in the Fulcrum when the two first met as children in The Fifth Season. Tonkee reveals two theories she believes to be true. First, the obelisks are older than recorded history and may predate the Shattering (the event that led to the first Season and nearly destroyed the world). Second, the obelisks were made by people and can be used to fix the world and end the Seasons once and for all.

Hoa is not there when Essun returns to her apartment later that day and is not seen again for some time. She goes to Alabaster to tell him she called the onyx and topaz obelisks and to try to get more information out of him. Alabaster is impressed by how much Essun has improved—something she realizes is the result of having to be so vigilant while raising two orogenic children—and tells her that he thinks she has the ability of a nine-ringer now (Fulcrum orogenes are ranked by how many rings they wear).

During the conversation, Essun can’t help looking at the parts of Alabaster that have turned to stone. He tells her to look inside him, which she finds perplexing at first because she’s never tried using orogeny on a person in this way before. However, as she aims her orogenic awareness toward him, she feels something. He reveals that what she senses is the stuff that makes orogeny work, that it’s what the obelisks are made of, and that past civilizations even had a word for it: They called it magic. The word, along with the idea of its very existence, has been erased over time because of its dangerous potential. Alabaster tells Essun that she needs to learn how to perceive and control this material. Essun still wants to know more about the moon, but Alabaster is too tired to continue. He briefly explains that losing the moon is what caused the start of the Seasons and that they can talk more the next day. Though not convinced she wants to help him further destroy the world, Essun commits to learning what he wants to teach her.

Nassun and Jija continue their journey south. Because they travel by horse cart, they move faster than Essun and stay ahead of the worst of the changing climate. They stop at comms Jija deems safe, and he provides rides to people they meet on the road in exchange for food and other provisions. At one of the comms, they stop at, Jija must kill a man to escape, and they lose the cart in the process. Another comm opens fire without warning, and Nassun uses orogeny to kill everyone inside. Jija is horrified by this, and Nassun vows not to do it again.

It takes them over a year to finally reach the location Jija has been looking for: a comm named Found Moon that he claims can “cure” her. The comm is up on a plateau. Leading to it is a long column of rock formations that Nassun recognizes were made by an orogene. Likewise, she believes the only way to climb these formations and reach the plateau would be to use orogeny. While she waits for Jija to accept this, they are attacked by a group of bandits. Jija is harpooned through the leg and pinned to the ground, but Nassun hesitates to use orogeny to deal with the bandits because of how Jija reacted previously.

The two are saved by Schaffa, who descends from the plateau and gracefully kills the bandits. Nassun uses orogeny to cut the chain that is attached to the harpoon in Jija’s leg. When she reaches down into the earth to gather the energy to cut the chain, she notices something finer and more precise than the lava waves she normally uses. She manages to form it into a sharp blade edge and cuts Jija free. Upon introduction, Schaffa believes he recognizes Nassun, but she insists they’ve never met. He offers to help her father and bring them up to the comm. Before they depart, Schaffa touches the back of Nassun’s neck, and for a moment, she notices a small thread of silvery light—not dissimilar to the light emitted when she cut the harpoon—pass from her to his fingers.

Essun settles into life in Castrima and begins to enjoy the mundane political issues she is tasked with dealing with. However, despite Castrima’s pro-orogene stance, she still hears people harboring resentment and distrust toward orogenes. She joins a party of hunters and Strongbacks to scout a camp that has appeared near Castrima. The camp has lined its perimeter with dead bodies impaled on poles and is flying a blood-red flag. The party debates the intent of the camp and where it came from. They conclude that it is most likely a camp from Tettehee (the next closest comm to the north) intended as a warning to establish territorial boundaries.

Castrima has not had contact with Tettehee since the start of the Season, and Essun suggests sending an orogene-escorted trading party to start a dialogue with them. Hjarka argues that a “rogga” (a slur referring to orogenes) would just as easily kill their own as the enemy, which prompts a display of orogenic power and precision from Essun. The party is impressed with her ability, having no previous exposure to Fulcrum-trained orogenes, and Essun is enlisted to teach the younger orogenes in the comm.

Back in Castrima, Essun and Alabaster continue their lessons, but Essun loses patience with the way he talks down to her. The subsequent argument causes some minor tremors around the comm. This orogenic sparring causes more of Alabaster’s arm to turn to stone. Essun realizes that if Alabaster has not changed in the 10 years since they last met, she must. Once things have calmed down, Alabaster agrees to tell her where he has been for the past 10 years.