After falling into a trance trying to wake up the Seed, Envoy was thought lost when the Seed erupted into destructive growth and transformed the Imperial Life Dome into a dangerous jungle. As the Imperials began taming it, they realized it formed a new Life Dome of a nature more to their liking then the old one.

Magic had spread and increased in power, such that mages from Sinai could operate on Abaddon, and fugitive mages (hedge wizards and such) had been emigrating through the Gateway. The Watch eventually sent mages to try and find them, but the Abaddonians discovered that monks and other holy men could block the detection efforts of the Sinai mages. The Imperials had been approached by the Watch looking for Envoy, but weren't about to turn her over – in fact they were planning a celebration banquet now that she'd been recovered.

Envoy determines that the Seed itself has grown huge and gone deep underground, possibly linking up with a vein of Sifran crystal. The flowers and vines seem to have the potential to provide power and communication as well.

Mr. Thorndike is also there, and tells her that he can use his space-time machine to travel between Behemoth and other forbidden zones throughout the Primus System, and has even visited his home world only to find that its history is slightly different on each visit, since that universe had been destroyed and recreated in the intervening time.

Envoy plans to return to New Zion with her collection of engine component crystals (which now show signs of 'life') and write up reports for the various powers on Sinai that will want them. She also plans to test the notion of traveling via forbidden zones now that Thorndike has shown it is possible.