- Todd and Viola take their horses out riding regularly now that they have the time, as it’s good for both themselves and their horses to get away from the stress of rebuilding New World. Once they went back as far as the field of “thangs” they rode through with Wilf, and just let the song of the creatures take all of their pain away for a while.
- Todd teaches Viola how to swim when the summer comes around. When she’s too tired or nervous to go out into deep water by herself, he just holds her against him until she is ready to let go and give it a shot on her own.
- Lee likes to make light of situations where people are too nervous to talk to the members of the council. For example, if someone needs to speak to Viola and Lee can tell they are uneasy about approaching her, he tells them not to worry because he once saw her get mad at a dead bird because its feathers kept getting in her mouth while they prepared dinner for the camp of the Answer. Viola only pretends to be mad at Lee for telling people about that, and sometimes she combats it with the time he stoked the oven too hot and burned every loaf of bread they were meant to make that day.
- When the new year comes around, the settlers celebrate how far they’ve come together. There’s food and music and very little work to be done that day, and there isn’t meant to be dancing, but a few well-practiced friends get excited and start what becomes the most festive night of teaching songs they used to dance to to anyone who will listen. The Spackle are thoroughly confused by the entire situation, but they don’t interfere because the happiness spreads to them too.
- Wilf and Jane take Lee to watch sunsets as often as he will let them. Even though Lee can clearly see the sky changing colors in Wilf’s Noise, Jane feels the need to explain what it looks like anyway. Neither of them stop her because she is enjoying herself.
- Viola refuses to speak to the Sky for as long as she can manage it, but when a group of Spackle children get lost while exploring in the new city, Viola helps them get back to their families. She and the Sky give a respectful nod to each other in passing and eventually learn not to hate each others’ company.
- Todd never loses the attitude he gets when someone doubts him. He’ll do any job given to him, such as organizing the bedding in the new up-and-coming houses of healing, or doing a shift of cooking. An unpleasant man may test his patience by telling him through the window that he’s doing a woman’s job, to which Todd would respond, “Well you should get in here and do it for me then, shouldn’t you?” When the man walks away with nothing to say, Todd would continue working as if nothing had happened.
- Todd ends up in a painful conversation with a woman that he had banded. She initially blows up at him for his lack of humanity, having stood in silence which she was branded as nothing more than a number. When she takes a step back and sees the horror in Todd’s Noise at her words to him, she almost doesn’t recognize him as the same silent boy. She decides to learn his name, and he decides to learn hers. They both apologize for hurting the other and continue on with a respectful acquaintanceship.
- When the new settlers first arrived, the men and women were separated so that Noise could be explained in a more organized way. The women explained Noise to the women, answering any askings about how respectful it is to listen up close, and how easy it can be to block it out. The men explained Noise to the men, going through every pro and con of having yourself be opened so widely to the rest of the world. When no one had any more askings, the men and women were put back together to have a quick history lesson. They were then introduced to the Spackle. The settlers were broken up into groups and woken up by just a thousand at a time. The entire process took about a week, but once everyone understood the history of New World, they started to understand how to live again. Any situation, they decided, would be better than Old World.
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