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Chapter 7 sees Wanderer in the classroom lecturing to a group of souls. Through the question of one student, we learn about one of the worlds the souls inhabit (but notably one Wanderer has never lived on). The student asks, “The Fire-Tasters actually… ingest the smoke from burning the Walking Flowers? Like food?”
Wanderer explains that, yes, this is “the fundamental dilemma and controversy of the Fire World. Apparently when the souls first began to inhabit this world they thought the Fire-Tasters were the only intelligent lifeforms. Eventually the souls realized that this was just a “cultural bias” and that they were murdering intelligent creatures. Currently the souls are working on finding another food source for the Fire-Tasters using the spiders for help. Still the planet was not abandoned because souls “do not abandon planets lightly. There are many souls for whom the Fire World is home. They will not be uprooted against their will.”
One of the younger students who has only lived on Earth calls the Fire World “barbaric” and although Wanderer does her duty to justify the souls’ decisions, we learn through her conversation with Melanie that she agrees.
As class commences, Wanderer/Melanie notice the Seeker sitting in the classroom. They are both angry and annoyed that the Seeker has basically decided to stalk her/their every move. Wanderer has a moment of introspection as the class is dismissed. She muses, “Maybe I was naturally antisocial. My personal history supported that theory, I supposed. I’d never formed an attachment strong enough to keep me on a planet for more than one life.”
The Seeker seizes an opportunity to sneak up on Wanderer and begins peppering her with questions about her opinion of the Fire World. Wanderer evades the questions, leading the Seeker to finally ask her real question: Does Wanderer pity the humans like they were Walking Flowers? Wanderer confesses that she feels pity for the humans because they had such a wonderful, vivid world taken from them. Wanderer tries to make the Seeker understand, but finds out the Seeker has only lived on Earth. Wanderer is more than a little surprised. “Only one planet? And you chose to be a Seeker in your first life?”
The Seeker confesses that she has talked to Wanderer’s Comforter and knows that she is having trouble with her host. The Seeker suggests she is “growing sympathetic to [her] host” and that “maybe someone else would have better luck with her.” When Wanderer asks who might take her place, the Seeker grins and says “I’ve gotten permission to give it a try.” This fills both Wanderer and Melanie with rage. Wanderer thinks “the idea of having the Seeker inside me, even though I would not be here, was so repugnant that I felt a return of last week’s nausea.”
The Seeker continues to needle Wanderer and tells her that the long term success rate once a human host has started to resist is under 20%. “Is that what you want, Wanderer? To lose? To fade away, erased by another awareness? To be no better than a host body?” Wanderer is obviously rattled by her words.
Once Wanderer is able to escape the Seeker, Melanie suggests that they try to get the Seeker fired. Wanderer explains to her that in the soul world “there are no higher-ups, in that sense. Everyone works together as equals. There are those whom any report to in order to keep the information organized, and counsels who make decisions about that information, but they won’t remove her from an assignment she wants.”
Melanie wants to kill the Seeker she is so angry, but Wanderer is repulsed by this thought. Melanie finally exclaims “What do we do now? I’m not giving up. You’re not giving up. And that wretched Seeker is sure as hell not giving up!”
Wanderer returns home where she starts to look up flights to Chicago where her Healer is located. Wanderer says that she wants to talk to him before she makes her decision.
Melanie: The decision to kill me?
Wanderer: Yes, that one.
