Dawn

The other humans continue to avoid Lilith. She has the option to leave but wants to stay in the Earth-like training room for as long as she can. Slowly, her feuds with some of the other humans begin to fade, and she teaches Wray how to make a special fish trap that she invented. Lilith has neural link sex with Nikanj, Ahajas, and Dichaan, thinking at first she has no more need for humans, but one day, she feels something when she touches Victor’s hand while chopping wood. Nikanj says it could find another mate for Lilith, if she wants.

One day, Lilith gets back to camp and finds that the other humans are gone. Nikanj explains that they’re headed back to Earth. Tate left behind a message to Lilith about wanting to apologize for her behavior earlier. Nikanj was afraid that if Lilith stayed with the humans, she would eventually be killed by them.

Nikanj explains that the humans going back to Earth will escape the Oankali, as Lilith taught them. But eventually, they will have to come back, being unable to have offspring without the help of Oankali. Nikanj reveals that Lilith is in fact pregnant with Joseph’s child, a girl who will also be the child of  Nikanj, Ahajas, and Dichaan. Ahajas is similarly pregnant and will have a child that is a sibling to Lilith’s daughter. Lilith is overwhelmed and fears her child won’t feel human, but Nikanj insists that whatever the child is, it will contain part of Lilith.

Lilith is still worried, feeling that her child is the beginning of the end for humanity. Nikanj insists that Lilith’s child will be better than humans or Oankali. Although Lilith can’t go to Earth, Oankali promises her that she can lead future groups of humans in the training room. Lilith vows to learn as much as she can about the Oankali and perhaps find a way to help some fertile humans slip through the training process, allowing them to continue populating the human race. Nikanj leads Lilith out of the training room through a secret exit.