A Drop of Corruption

Din and the wardens return to Yarrowdale, where Malo signals that they may have been contaminated. A team of Apoths dressed in protective gear examine them intimately, which embarrasses Din, though the other Apoths treat the procedure as routine. Those exposed are taken to a decontamination cell, where they are examined repeatedly and asked to wash in various substances designed to kill contagion. He thinks wryly of the inglorious aspects of his job.

After many rounds of decontamination protocols, Din is taken to a meeting at the fermentation works with the other wardens and Thelenai. Thelenai asks Din to recount what he witnessed. They quiz him extensively; as he begins to discuss the detonation device, Ana demands entry. She describes the device precisely. Thelenai, baffled as to how Ana could know this, allows her entrance.

Ana explains that she derived her conclusion from the reports that Thelenai gave her about the thefts; she tracked abnormal thefts to discover that the imposter built a diffuser to atomize the kani found in a certain kind of stolen fertilizer. The aerosolized kani could be sprayed to cause widespread destruction, like that which Din witnessed in the camp. Thelenai considers it impossible that such a high-tech device could be built with pilfered parts in a swamp, but Ana cautions against underestimating the imposter, who has henceforth shown themselves to be brilliant.