Nina and Doga visit their recently deceased son’s grave in preparation for a sacred hair shaving ceremony. Their son’s name was Adika, and the reader learns that he was killed by a police officer during a university demonstration. The hair shaving is typically done one week after the burial is complete. It is the ultimate show of respect to the dead, and not performing the ceremony for a loved one would be unthinkable. However, the mourning parents find that their son’s grave has been burnt. To burn a grave is to attempt to kill the spirit of the person who has died. For Nina and Doga, this is proof that whoever killed their son lives among them.

Their other son appears, a boy named Jusper. Based on some of his behaviors and mannerisms, Jusper is thought by other characters to be deranged, simpleminded, or deviant. He had been put in charge of guarding his brother’s grave. He tells his parents that a man came to burn the grave. Rather than allow it, Jusper says that he killed the man. It will be revealed later that he killed a man named Chachaga, the brother of a powerful sub-chief.