Aaor changes its body to appear more like Tomás and Jesusa. Jodahs links with Aaor to help ease its loneliness and agony. Lilith is torn between her love for Jodahs and the guilt of not telling the siblings that they will be bound if they stay. She tells Jesusa that Jodahs will not lie but will withhold information. She encourages Jesusa to think critically and ask questions. Jesusa asks Lilith if she would choose Mars if she were in her place, and Lilith responds that she has found contentment with the Oankali. Lilith has chosen to live, but Jesusa believes that going along with the Oankali is not a real choice. Aaor pleads again with the twins to help it find mates, but Jesusa refuses to betray her people and warns Aaor that the villagers will try to kill it.

Aaor wanders the forest and changes its form into an increasingly less complex organism. It develops fur, scales, and then bark, and finally transforms into a mollusk-like organism that can only survive in water. Aaor painfully makes its way home and is discovered by its siblings.