Black Sun

Xiala arrives in Tova the day before the convergence. The attractive woman from the riverboat invites her to spend time with her in Tova, but Xiala rejects her in favor of spending one last day with Serapio. She wavers, thinking he’s only offering to spend time with her out of obligation, but he assures her it’s what he wants.

The city of Tova is decorated for the solstice, with bonfires and paper lanterns, and many people are out in the street celebrating. Xiala buys Serapio a cup of hot chocolate with chile pepper, which he loves, and a honey candy shaped like the sun. When Serapio bites into the candy, honey spills on his face; when Xiala goes to wipe it off, Serapio stops her hand and licks each one of her fingers. He asks her to take him to a nearby traveler’s inn to give her a gift.

Serapio and Xiala go to a private room at the inn, where he takes his time washing her hair and body in a hot spring. When he’s done, he kisses the top of her head and tells her that it was, in fact, a gift she gave him. Then he leaves, and Xiala cries in the bath.

The day before the convergence, Okoa is reading in the library. The riverboat captain who took Serapio and Xiala upriver comes to see him. Okoa has received Naranpa’s letter with “three glyphs: Storm, Betrayal, Friendship” (403), but he is not sure exactly what it means.

After the chaos during the funeral, and after his healing by the old Carrion Crow religious group, Okoa’s family was relieved to see him come home. His family reminds him that the celestial tower owes a monetary payment for the people who died in the chaos, and for Okoa’s poisoned stab wound.

The riverboat captain tells Okoa that Serapio is the crow god returned, the Odo Sedoh. At first, Okoa does not believe him, but when the captain tells him about Serapio’s fighting powers and ability to see crows, Okoa is intrigued. When the captain tells him about Serapio’s plan to confront the Sun Priest the following day, on the solstice, Okoa calls the guard. The riverboat captain assures Okoa that he will see Serapio is the real deal, but Okoa does not yet believe him.

The kidnappers take Naranpa down to the bowels of the celestial tower, where she sleeps on a stone floor in a prison cell, blindfolded and handcuffed. On the day of the convergence, they wake her up and take her outside, barefoot in the snow, to a bridge. One of the priests instrumental in the plan to usurp Naranpa as Sun Priest goes with them. They try to take Naranpa into the Carrion Crow district: they plan to murder her and blame it on the crow to use her murder to justify potential genocide. Naranpa realizes that her brother was probably right about the overall political landscape of the continent influencing events in the city itself.

When they try to cross the bridge into the crow district, their way is blocked. They discuss whether to return to the tower. As they deliberate, they are spotted by the crow guards; they decide to cut Naranpa’s throat and throw her in the river. They tear off Naranpa’s clothes so that no one suspects them in her death, but leave the necklace. Naranpa remembers the power of the bison amulet on her necklace; she calls for Zataya before hitting a guard and launching herself over the bridge and down into the river.

In a continuation of Chapter 34, Serapio makes his way through Tova the day before the convergence. He imagines another possible life with Xiala, one without the same weight of duty he carries. A happy one.

Serapio takes star pollen and talks to the crows; especially to the giant crow who Okoa rides. When the crows ask him who he is, he cannot remember, but they see him as the old crow god. He asks them to help him see so that he can get to the place where he intends to meet the Sun Priest. The giant crow helps him by flying over the city and showing him a literal bird’s-eye view. She shows him a path to where he needs to go and tells him that there’s a winter storm coming. She advises him to sleep inside that night, safe from the cold. He says he plans to sleep outside, in wait.

The day of the convergence, Okoa watches the sunrise and notices his giant crow is missing. He worries about her. One of his guards informs him of Serapio’s arrival and that he went to the location of the big solstice ceremony. Okoa keeps his clan away from the ceremony, plans to get the giant crows away from the city just in case, and gets his guards together to prepare for potential fallout or attack. The guard tells him that his giant crow spent the entire night sheltering Serapio.

The day of the convergence, Serapio talks with the giant crow as they watch the priesthood arrive to Sun Rock for the solstice ceremonies. The other clans also arrive, and the clan members and priests sing together. It’s time for Serapio to act, so the giant crow leaves. With an obsidian knife, Serapio slices through the scar tissue which covers both eyes. He wipes his blood through his hair and takes off his shirt to expose his scarification.

Serapio calls his shadow magic and it oozes from his skin. He has a moment of doubt, one where he wants to be only a person instead of a vessel for the old god, but he realizes he has been only a vessel since his mother blinded him as a child. He speaks his own name—"I am the Odo Sedoh” (428). The crow god emerges.

The Odo Sedoh begins a murderous rampage across Sun Rock. The clan members and spectators run, but the priesthood stays, and the Odo Sedoh kills them all. Lastly, he goes to the Sun Priest—the usurper, not Naranpa—and smiles with satisfaction. But when he tries to kill the Sun Priest, he realizes that the person wearing the mask has not been invested with the power of the sun god. The Sun Priest stabs him, and in return the Odo Sedoh cuts off the Sun Priest’s head.

Xiala stands on the balcony of an inn and watches the solar eclipse—the moment of convergence. All the lights are out and there is only darkness. Xiala thinks about finding the attractive woman from the riverboat, but instead she drinks alcohol and thinks about Serapio. She decides to try to find him and sets out into the dark city toward Sun Rock. As she arrives, the spectators are on bridges trying to run away from the violence, and some of them fall off the bridges into the river.

Xiala uses her magical song to try to make her way through the crowd, and it works to calm the stampede until an icy magical wind shakes the bridge. She is not able to get all the way to Sun Rock, and she’s taken by the direction of the crowd back the way she came. Everyone looks at the eclipse, which has stopped with the moon still covering the sun. 

In the Maw, the witch Zataya fishes Naranpa’s body out of the river. Her apprentices build a fire as Zataya smokes herbs, places salt under Naranpa’s tongue, and covers her body in fresh blood. Though Zataya’s grandmother learned blood magic, she has never tried it before herself and isn’t sure it will succeed. The eclipse begins as Zataya and the apprentices wait to see whether Naranpa will come back from the dead. 

It is Year 1 of the Crow. Okoa flies over Sun Rock on his giant crow and looks at the carnage from the attack. The level of destruction is immense, and its intensity confirms that it was indeed the Odo Sedoh. The giant crow insists that they land on Sun Rock, even though Okoa doesn’t want to.

Sun Rock smells like death. Okoa looks over the bodies of clan guards, priest guards, and the main priests themselves. He looks at their bodies closely. The guard priest has a fatal stomach wound but is still alive, so Okoa ends her life.

The body of the Odo Sedoh is covered by crows of various sizes, some Okoa recognizes and some he does not. Above them fly more giant crows. Okoa prays and thanks the dead crows before picking up Serapio’s body. He thinks he might hear a heartbeat.

Okoa’s giant crow bumps him to see Serapio’s body and Okoa mounts her to fly home with Serapio. She heads away from the city, toward where the crows lay their eggs in the mountains to the west. Serapio’s eyelids flutter open.