On the boat, the empress speaks to the Defect. The Defects calls her the Moon who fell upon the Tortoise Mother’s back, cracking her shell. The Tortoise Mother carried the Moon to safety. As repayment, the Moon gave the Tortoise Mother the ability to speak with all her children. Thus, the mental connection between all tortoises was created. The Defect says that this was not a gift but a curse. Every newly hatched tortoise awakes already connected to the network and suffers pain as their collective memory fills its mind. Worse, this ability makes them a useful tool to humans, who now imprison and exploit them. The empress feels regret and insists that it was meant to be a gift of gratitude.

Their boat continues down the network of rivers. They see nets suspended above the water, filled with moonrocks. Jun explains to Keema that it is a method of fishing. Because of the love between the Moon and Water, the river water reacts to the moonrocks by screaming, the sound of the Water calling for its lost lover. The screaming disorients the fish. Humans cannot hear it, but the empress can, and she collapses, her power cut off. This is how the emperors trapped her beneath the palace. Nets filled with moonrocks hung above the moat that surrounded her, and the screaming kept her powerless.

At a fork in the river, they run across another Daido, blocking one path. The purple bird that Keema freed reappears, flapping frantically. Keema surmises that it wants them to take the path past the Daido. He suspects that it is some kind of nature spirit offering help, but Jun is skeptical. He thinks that nature would like to kill him for his sins. They take the unblocked path and are quickly captured by fishermen.

An older woman named Kaara is their leader. She recognizes Jun as a Red Peacock and is about to kill them when the empress speaks through Jun, calling the woman Tak-Lina. Kaara freezes. Tak-Lina is her old name, which she has not used in centuries; only the Moon goddess would know it. The empress explains her mission and asks for assistance. Tak-Lina, a river spirit, retorts that it was the Moon’s promise to the emperor’s ancestor that permitted the royal family to destroy the land and rivers. She says that she is no longer Tak-Lina but Kaara, a human woman who cares for the people on her river. They have raised a Gathering of the River Clans to attack Luubu and reclaim the rule of Thousand Rivers. However, she agrees to take the empress and her escorts to speak with the Gathering.

They reach the Gathering. Kaara/Tak-Lina takes Jun and the empress to speak with the leaders. The people glare at Jun with blatant hatred, and he suspects that they will execute him soon. They leave Keema and the Defect on the boat. Jun carries the empress to the meeting with the Gathering’s leaders. The empress expends precious energy to speak from her own body rather than through Jun. Her eyes glow, and power emanates from her as she explains her mission again. She offers to help them defeat Luubu before going on her way. Though she does not want to admit it to Jun, or herself, she enjoys the way the river people worship her after centuries of isolation.

Jun and the empress return to the boat. Then, the Defect screams, proclaiming that Luubu is dead: Luubu was seen leaving his vessel hours ago, and witnesses saw him shot in the back. He was taken to a medical vessel, but he died before arriving. The Defect says that the announcement comes directly from the Mother Tortoise, who is, at that moment, trapped on one of Luubu’s prison vessels and requests rescue now that her captor is dead. The empress agrees, as she feels that she owes the tortoises a debt. She urges the Gathering to help free the Mother Tortoise, pointing out that they planned to attack Luubu’s fleet anyway.

As they prepare, Jun and the empress argue. He believes that this side mission is dangerous and will distract them from their true purpose. The empress insists that they have a responsibility to help. Jun retorts that she is distracted by her desire to be worshipped. The empress uses her power to twist his body until he collapses and screams for forgiveness. When she releases him, Jun retreats into the crowd of river people.

Suddenly, a woman confronts Jun with a knife, saying that he killed her family, including her 10-year-old nephew. Jun remembers. He intends to let her kill him, but Kaara/Tak-Lina intervenes, saying that they need him. Filled with shame, Jun swears to the woman that he will return when he has finished his mission and that she can kill him then.

Later, Keema and Jun sit on the riverbank. Keema wants to offer Jun some comfort but does not know how. He recalls working on the pleasure vessel, when one of the sex workers taught him how to dance. He enjoyed it and developed a habit of dancing even when he was alone. He wants to ask Jun to dance but is too afraid, so he tackles him instead, and they wrestle again. As before, the fight ends in a draw. Keema notices Jun’s exhaustion and tells him to sleep. Jun admits that he is afraid someone will kill him in his sleep. Keema promises to watch over him.

Night falls, and the rebels approach Luubu’s fleet. It is a floating town of apartment barges and communal spaces, as well as pleasure vessels and prisons. The Defect can hear his mother calling and leads them to the prison ship carrying the Mother Tortoise. Keema boards the ship first. However, the instant he climbs through a window, a voice orders him to stop. Luubu stands at the window, alive.

Luubu’s soldiers, the Silver Monkeys, appear. They drop nets of moonrocks, and the empress collapses, powerless. Still frozen at the window, Keema sees the cracked-open body of an enormous tortoise, its flesh scooped out of the shell. Luubu ate the body of the Mother Tortoise, gaining her power to connect with the network and deceiving the Defect into believing that his mother called him. The Defect screams. Then, a soldier shoots a large bolt down through its shell, killing it. Luubu reaches down to kill Keema, but Kaara/Tak-Lina raises the water and knocks him free. He falls into the river.

In the Inverted Theater, all the dancers and chorus members leave the stage except for one. From this dancer, the grandchild hears the empress speak, saying, “[H]ear me, audience of the theater—listen to the Moon on High, the Empress of the Eight Sons of the Moon Throne, for I have a tale to tell” (277).