Summary
The Vernal Conclave approaches. All 25 regions of the world hold their conclaves on the same day; there are currently 321 scythes in their region, the MidMerican Conclave, which tends to be a trendsetter for the rest of the conclaves. The apprentices will be tested at all three conclaves they attend before they become junior scythes, but Scythe Faraday doesn’t know (or maybe won’t say) what the test will be. They won’t be disqualified if they fail the test, but they will be punished. As they study, Citra admits to Rowan that she’d miss him if he wasn’t around.
Fulcrum City is at the center of MidMerica, and the conclave is held in the old Capitol Building. (Fulcrum City is on the Mississippi River and used to have a large silver arch, so it’s fair to assume it’s a post-mortal continuation of St. Louis.) It’s pouring rain the day of the conclave, and Citra realizes that the High Blade doesn’t know Scythe Faraday has taken two apprentices (“better to ask forgiveness than permission,” he says). There’s a crowd around the Capitol Building, which Scythe Faraday ignores as they enter. He points out various scythes, including Scythe Archimedes (very old); Scythe Curie, the Grande Dame of Death, in lavender robes, who smiles at them; and, in blue robes studded with diamonds, Scythe Goddard, famous for his mass gleanings. The High Blade of their conclave, Xenocrates, wears gilded gold robes and is fat, choosing not to alter his metabolism via nanites so he creates a memorable, imposing figure.
Rowan and Citra talk to a few apprentices who are about to become junior scythes if they pass their test today. The older apprentices call them spats, like “spatula,” since new apprentices are good for nothing but flipping scythes’ burgers. Rowan annoys them by laughing, and Citra calls them tools. Scythe Faraday reveals to the two of them that only one of those apprentices will become junior scythes—the boy Ransom Paladini is too quick to anger, so he’ll have to return to normal life. The conclave begins with the Tolling of the Names, when each scythe recalls ten people they gleaned over the last four months; Rowan is pleased to hear Scythe Faraday say Kohl Whitlock’s name in his chosen ten.
Citra is annoyed by the ceremony and anxious to take the test. A few scythes are called out for misbehavior, including one scythe gleaning too few rich people (she’s required to glean only wealthy people until the next conclave), one scythe gleaning too many ugly people (he’s not allowed to glean again until the next reptilian year, which could be next year or a hundred years from now; no one knows), and someone anonymously accusing Scythe Goddard of unnecessary cruelty (since no one steps forward, Goddard isn’t punished). Scythe Faraday tells Rowan and Citra that he believes Goddard put the accusation forward himself, so that no one will actually accuse him. Rowan is much more interested in what happens between sessions, when different groups split off and try to make alliances for their own interests—he watches Goddard most of all, and he knows Goddard can tell he’s watching.
Proposals are put forward and hotly debated. At lunch, Scythe Faraday packs his plate. Scythe Curie explains to Citra that for scythes who take their vow of austerity seriously, conclave is the only time they can enjoy the luxury of fine food. Citra observes people trying to sell weapons to the Weaponsmaster, who decides what the Scythedom will purchase—the most successful is Touch of Quietude, a pill taken by the scythe that makes their fingers secrete a transdermal poison that will kill anyone they touch in the next hour, instantly and painlessly. The Weaponsmaster tests the pill by gleaning the saleswoman, then buys 50 vials. Scythe Faraday supports creating a council to govern the granting of immunity, but the High Blade tables the discussion until the next conclave (“Interesting,” Scythe Faraday mutters). The older apprentices are given their rings and announce their Patron Historics—or, in the case of Ransom Paladini, are told they can’t become scythes and are wished a happy normal life—and then it’s time for Rowan and Citra’s test.
There are eight apprentices being tested, and Scythe Curie asks each of them one question, pass or fail. Some are given ethical hypotheticals; some are asked to recount venomous animals. Citra is asked to disclose the worst thing she’s ever done, and she says she tripped a girl when she was younger, killing her. Scythe Curie can tell she’s lying; Citra fails. Rowan is asked what his biggest fear is, and he intentionally fails, saying he’s not afraid of anything at all. Citra calls him an idiot, and Scythe Faraday agrees—he just showed the conclave he’s noble, and motives can be beaten into weapons.
Before the end of conclave, one of Scythe Goddard’s followers, Scythe Rand, stands up and says she’s troubled by Scythe Faraday having two apprentices—no one has ever done that before, and it’s clear the competition has turned into camaraderie, so it’s impossible to tell who will be the better scythe. Scythe Rand proposes that, to be sure it’s a real competition and the best one wins, the first thing the winner has to do upon becoming a junior scythe is glean the loser. Scythe Faraday strenuously objects, saying it goes against the very moral fiber of the Scythedom, but the High Blade approves the proposal and ends the conclave.
Both Citra and Rowan are shaken by the knowledge they’ll either kill or be killed in eight months. The morning after they return to Scythe Faraday’s house, the scythe says he’ll go out alone today. That evening, Rowan goes to Citra’s room and wants to kiss her, but she surprises him by kissing him first, saying that it’s out of the way now—they’ve avoided falling in love so far, and now they have to keep it that way.
A wealthy executive of Regenesis, Maxim Easley, opens the door of his estate to find an elegy of scythes in glittering robes. He invites them in, trying to be calm, but as he and Scythe Goddard make small talk, he becomes more nervous, trying to bribe them. Scythe Goddard demands his estate—all of it—and has Scythe Chomsky glean Maxim’s pool boy using Touch of Quietude. Maxim agrees to give up his estate, and Scythe Goddard tells him to resign his position at Regenesis—he needs a new pool boy.
Citra and Rowan are awakened by a knock on the door sometime after midnight. High Blade Xenocrates (accompanied by the BladeGuard) informs them that Scythe Faraday invoked the seventh commandment, gleaning himself.
They’re taken to High Blade Xenocrates’s house in Fulcrum City, a small log cabin that has been reassembled on the rooftop of the city’s tallest building. He tells them that when a scythe gleans themselves, their apprentice(s) are unbound—Scythe Faraday gleaned himself to free them from having to kill each other. Rowan says that this is Xenocrates’s fault, but Xenocrates says he was merely executing the will of the Scythedom. Rowan argues, and he points out that they don’t know the will of the Scythedom, since Xenocrates made the decision without a vote. Xenocrates informs them that something rare has happened: Scythes have come forward to take over their training in Faraday's absence. Citra is now Honorable Scythe Curie’s apprentice; Rowan knows before Xenocrates says it that his new mentor is Honorable Scythe Goddard.
Analysis
Much of this section is dominated by the conclave, as seen through Citra and Rowan's contrasting perspectives. Citra's focus and impatience are clear, as she awaits the upcoming test and finds the formalities ridiculous. Rowan's ability to read people provides insight into various scythes, including Scythe Goddard, who seems to be perceptive as well, since Rowan can tell Goddard knows he's watching. Rowan is most interested in the time between official conclave activity, indicating his natural understanding of politics—he would likely fit in well as a MidMerican scythe.
But his nobility—or perhaps his intentional lack of guile—is his downfall. Rowan tries to be a hero, like he did with Kohl Whitlock. He throws his test to support Citra, which, as with Kohl, has negative consequences: Scythe Rand speaks up to separate them specifically because of their camaraderie. Perhaps if Rowan had acted more competitively (or been less of an "idiot," as Citra would say), he and Citra wouldn't be in the position of gleaning the other in eight months.
Location plays an important role in this section, as Fulcrum City is introduced. This city is a post-mortal extension of St. Louis, Missouri, with the famous Gateway Arch now exploded along the top by "something called terrorism." Identifying the city as St. Louis positions the section's action in a familiar setting, slightly distant but still identifiable to the reader—one could probably find the Capitol Building on current-day Google Earth. The setting is close enough to be understandable, but it actually gives the reader a bit of superiority over Fulcrum City's current residents—we know more than the characters do, since we know what terrorism is.
Another key setting is High Blade Xenocrates's house, where Citra and Rowan receive the devastating news that they've been reassigned to other scythes. Later, Citra will be interrogated here, ending with her splatting from the skyscraper. Xenocrates is described as "a bloated bundle of contradictions," like his house: a simple log cabin, reconstructed atop the tallest tower in Fulcrum City, full of shabby secondhand furniture placed atop priceless tapestries. His well-tended garden extends to the very edge of the skyscraper. His house is explicitly compared to the "contradictions" in his personality, symbolically indicating variable personality traits that don't completely mesh—perhaps some false modesty or, at the very least, strange aesthetic tastes.
Toward the end of this section, Citra and Rowan kiss, but only after learning that they definitely, absolutely can never be together—after all, one of them is required to glean the other in less than a year. The kiss happens sometime around Scythe Faraday's self-gleaning, and soon after, Citra and Rowan are reassigned to different scythes: Citra is taken by old-guard Scythe Curie, and Rowan is taken by the leader of the new guard, Scythe Goddard, whom the reader has already seen committing some fairly gruesome murders. The next section reveals that Goddard actually wanted both apprentices. Scythe Curie believes this was so he could make a cockfighting-like sport out of training them. Later, Rowan will see Scythe Goddard's motivation as slightly different, as Goddard strives to corrupt the supposedly incorruptible "old guard" mentality of Scythe Faraday, making a weapon out of Rowan for his own use.
