Portia travels with Bianca and a male companion from the Great Nest to verify reports of altered lands to the north. They deliberately announce themselves in claimed territory, seeking information rather than hunting or settlement, because Portia’s plan prizes local knowledge over stealth.

Invited onto a communal web, Portia offers greetings and proposes trade. The locals respond warily, and Portia’s male infers they fear provoking something beyond their borders. Portia demonstrates aphid domestication and honeydew as proof of value, then asks for “Understanding” about northern precautions, revealing an intent to acquire inheritable knowledge.

The demand alarms the lead female, who reads it as Great Nest’s future encroachment. Posturing escalates into a challenge. Bianca, equipped with wooden shield-guards from Great Nest artisans, squares off while Portia quietly prepares a silk slingshot—another innovation learned rather than inherited.

When the larger leader strikes, Bianca blocks with her shields. Portia fires a stone that critically wounds the leader, compelling the locals to submit. Negotiations resume under a bolder subordinate. Portia’s male transfers aphid-husbandry Understanding via a silk-wrapped sperm packet; a local male reciprocates with territory practices and neighbor warnings, creating kin links and exchanging inheritable knowledge.

The encounter underscores the nanovirus-driven culture: learned behaviors can be transcribed into offspring, making information a tradable, genetic currency. With reports of threatening northern neighbors and visibly artificial clearings, Portia decides to press on for a closer look.