Schaffa has two other Guardians working with him, and at the time of Nassun’s arrival, nine orogene children are under their “care.” Jija is welcomed into the comm because his skills as a stoneknapper are sorely needed. Nassun is treated less enthusiastically by the comm but embraced fully by the other orogene children. They range in age, origin, and orogenic ability, but Nassun quickly learns she is far superior to all of them when it comes to orogeny.

Shortly after her arrival, Schaffa pulls her aside for a conversation. He explains orogenic ability is innate as well as practiced and that there aren’t many orogenes left with her natural talent because “so much has been done to breed the gift out of the world” (149). Nassun tells Schaffa that her father thinks she is evil because of what she is. Schaffa recognizes Fulcrum techniques in the way she uses her abilities and asks where she learned them. Nassun provides him with a detailed breakdown of all the ways her mother taught her. The teaching methods she describes are the same ones used in the Fulcrum, including the abuse; at one point,

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