Tharr's incredible discomfort with the infestation that has taken (literal) root in Tolliver manifests as a rather violent plucking - or rather, yanking - of the red flower blooming from Tolliver's back. Tharr pulls hard enough to leave a visible ripNo actual damage, but a failure to clear a mark from Tolliver. in the gau's fungal flesh, and Tolliver grimaces in pain. Park, seeing Tharr toss the shredded remnants of the flower to the deck, hurriedly rushes up and gather them together and put them in a jarPark has now gained a Manticore Bloom (Shredded)., muttering something about not wasting the petals.
As Park vanishes belowdecks again, Tolliver and Tharr stare out at the field of red blooms to port. Atus' counterchant grows louder, until he sounds like a storm himself and Tolliver and Tharr are wincing as his voice and thunderous punctuations begin to approach levels of permanent hearing loss. Atus' strategy seems to have worked; the chanting from the grove grows quiet, and then silent, until Tharr signals the ironbound to follow suit. Then there is only an eerie silence. Atus considers the grove of red flowers; it is large, and eliminating it would be a task for more than one ship, he fears; Tharr himself had even spotted a ship deeper inside it that had fallen prey to it, or perhaps their own hubris.
The voice of the tempest inside him had a niggling thought: Flowers burn. Fire burns. Lightning can make fire. He glanced thoughtfully at the storm-rail, the rational voice inside him countering: Fire spreads. Fire is eternal. Fire kills.