After establishing dominance locally, Portia, Bianca, and their new guide, a bold male named Fabian, travel north. Portia notes Fabian’s displays toward Bianca and worries about distraction, but they proceed. They soon find widespread deforestation and regimented plantations leading to a vast ant colony mound shrouded in smoke.

Portia recalls other uplift-touched species but identifies the ants as the urgent concern. Fabian explains rival colonies have been absorbed into one dominant supercolony. Recognizing a future threat to Great Nest, Portia decides to gather detailed intelligence despite the risks.

Observing an ant logging team, the spiders note workers with metal-sleeved mandibles cutting trunks. They ambush a party, taking heads for scent-masking and puppet-like deception, then move above ant roads on silk bridges. Fabian reveals the plantation’s sweet sap. Near the mound, the spiders see controlled fires, airflow engineering, charcoal, and metal tool use—systematized industry.

Portia advances alone, ghosting between ant paths until night. At the summit she watches ants assemble in a living network around a pale crystal. A small ant with a fine metal cap on its antenna touches the crystal and the host, triggering synchronized waves—an encoded, radio-driven “dance.” The gathering disperses as a swift “traveller” star dips below the horizon.

Intrigued, Portia approaches to take the crystal. Detected by the officiating ant, she kills it, removes its head, and seizes the crystal. As armed ants mass, she leaps and deploys a silk net to glide clear, escaping with both head and crystal. Her theft from the ants’ “temple” becomes hard-won proof of their power and intent.