After Chapter 5

In this chapterCal, Merrin and Greez reach Tanalorr and ask Bode to surrender so Kata and the Hidden Path can share its safety.

Tanalorr is reached, but arrival cannot fulfill the fantasies attached to it. Bode's protection has become a threat to Kata herself. Cal kills his friend, then accepts responsibility for the daughter Bode wanted to save and for building a refuge that does not become private property.

Bode and Cal both touch the dark side in defense of someone they love. The difference is not that Cal remains pure. Merrin, Greez and eventually Kata keep him inside relationships where his fear can be answered. Bode rejects every limit on his judgment until even Kata's terror cannot interrupt it.

The funeral joins enemy and family in the same fire. Bode caused Cere and Cordova's deaths, yet Kata is allowed to mourn him. Cal's promise is therefore difficult: preserve love without inheriting the logic that love permits possession. Tanalorr can become sanctuary only if safety is practiced as a shared obligation rather than guarded as one man's escape.

The ending refuses to make Tanalorr a pure reward. Cal, Merrin and Kata can build a home there only if they remember that safety is something offered to others, not hoarded from them.