Chapter 4 Summary: Reina

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Reina Mori's birth in Tokyo, which coincided with a nearby fire—an event the city found troublingly archaic. Doctors immediately recognized her exceptional magical power, as the few plants in the hospital crept toward her infant form. Her grandmother called her birth a miracle, but Reina herself considered it the beginning of a lifetime of chores.

Reina is classified as a naturalist, but she feels the classification is misleading. Other naturalists ask things of nature and receive; in Reina's case, nature makes demands on her, like an irritating sibling or an incurable addict. She learned to block things out, partly because she was an illegitimate daughter who had to edit her own history and erase her own significance.

She chose the Osaka Institute of Magic over Tokyo's better magical university, seeking escape from her hometown. She found refuge in mythology—stories of witches and gods exiled to islands, enduring the Underworld, or turning enemies into things that couldn't speak. She wanted literature and freedom, not botany and herbology. After graduating, she became a waitress at a café near Osaka's magical epicenter, where the lack of plants gave her time to read and write. Agricultural firms from Japan, China, and the United States had tried to recruit her, but she avoided working in fields where the earth would drain her.

Today, a tall, dark-skinned man in a Burberry trench coat enters the café, places three seedlings on the table, and asks her to make them grow. He speaks in a restrained Tokyo dialect, revealing he knows where she's from. Reina responds in English, saying she doesn't make them grow—they just do it. The man, who speaks with a posh British accent, asks whether her power works better when she's angry or sad. He asks why he should choose her; she insists she's a waitress, not a naturalist. One seedling splits open and digs into the wood.

The man asks what she's reading—a translation of a manuscript by Circe, the Greek witch. He says the manuscript is long lost; she replies that people wrote down what it contained. He offers her the real thing. The third seedling shoots up and collides with the ceiling. Reina is skeptical, noting everything comes with a price. The man offers three answers in exchange for her cooperation. He asks what makes her power happen, whether it drains her, and what happens if she tries to use it. She explains that it uses her energy, thoughts, and emotions; it usually drains her, though sometimes gives a little back; and she doesn't use it.

He identifies himself as Atlas Blakely, Caretaker, and says she's tied for sixth on the invitation list—only six can be invited. Her professors think she'll refuse, so his council isn't unanimous. He has twenty minutes to convince them. He mentions an alternative candidate: a traveler, a young man, well-trained but with a less useful ability. Reina asks to see the manuscript. Atlas produces a handwoven book with ancient Greek and pseudo-hieroglyphic runes, showing a cloaking spell and a drawing of Aeaea. He won't let her touch it, and he vanishes it after a moment.

Reina closes her eyes and speaks to the seeds in their language, telling them to grow and take what they need. The seedlings burst into branches, moss, and fruit—apples ripening at an astronomical rate. Atlas acknowledges that her power is both a gift and a talent. Reina insists he'll want her, listing her uniqueness against the other candidates he mentions: two physicists, an illusionist, a telepath, an empath. Atlas concedes she's right. He gives her a card for transport to orientation in four hours, saying this won't be her final test, and leaves. His coffee sits forgotten on the counter.

Key Events

Reina's birth during a Tokyo fire marks her as exceptional; plants respond to her immediately.
She chooses Osaka over Tokyo to escape her hometown and its expectations.
Atlas Blakely visits her café with three seedlings and tests her power.
He offers three answers in exchange for her cooperation; she answers his questions about her ability.
Atlas reveals she's tied for sixth on the invitation list and shows her the Circe manuscript as a lure.
Reina makes the seedlings grow dramatically—branches, moss, and fruit.
Atlas gives her a transport card for orientation in four hours, warning it won't be her final test.

Character Development

Reina Mori: The chapter establishes Reina as someone who experiences her power as a burden rather than a gift. She resists the label of naturalist, preferring to see herself as a waitress who reads mythology. Her choice of Osaka and her avoidance of agricultural work show a desire for freedom and self-definition. Yet when tested, she demonstrates both her power and her pride—she knows her worth and insists Atlas will want her. Her willingness to bargain with Atlas, exchanging three answers for the manuscript, shows a pragmatic, transactional side. The plants calling her "Mother" hints at a deeper relationship with nature than she admits.

Atlas Blakely: The Caretaker appears as a recruiter who uses leverage—the manuscript, the threat of an alternative candidate, the promise of three answers—to persuade Reina. He's observant, patient, and manipulative, but he also acknowledges her power honestly. His comment that this won't be her final test suggests the selection process is ongoing and competitive.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Naturalism as burden: Reina's power is not a tool she wields but a demand placed on her. Nature uses her energy, thoughts, and emotions, draining her.
The cost of power: Every use of her ability has a price—exhaustion, loss of control, the need to bargain.
Escape and freedom: Reina's move to Osaka, her café job, and her love of mythology all represent attempts to escape the demands of her power and her past.
Mythology as refuge: Circe's story—exile, transformation, control—mirrors Reina's own desires and fears.
Transactional bargaining: Atlas offers three answers; Reina offers her cooperation. The manuscript is a bribe with strings attached.
The selection competition: Reina is tied for sixth; the alternative candidate is a traveler. The stakes of the invitation are made explicit.
Power vs. identity: Reina insists she's a waitress, not a naturalist, resisting being defined by her ability.
The manuscript as lure: The Circe manuscript is the object that tempts Reina, representing knowledge and escape.
Mother imagery: The plants call Reina "Mother," suggesting a maternal, nurturing relationship with nature that she resists.
Fire as birth omen: The fire at her birth foreshadows destruction and transformation, and it lingers in her memory as smoke.
Self-erasure: Reina learned to edit her own history as an illegitimate daughter, a skill that shapes her approach to her power.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter introduces Reina Mori as a candidate for the Society, establishing her power, her psychology, and her recruitment. It also deepens the portrait of Atlas Blakely as a recruiter who uses leverage and competition to secure his choices. The chapter sets up the selection stakes—only six can be invited, and Reina is tied for sixth—and introduces the Circe manuscript as a significant lure, hinting at the Society's access to rare magical texts. Reina's demonstration of power, and her insistence that Atlas will want her, establishes her as a formidable presence among the candidates. The chapter also plants the idea that the invitation is only the beginning: "This will not be your final test."

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Reina resist being called a naturalist, and what does this reveal about her relationship to her power?

Reina resists the label because her experience of naturalism differs from other naturalists. They ask things of nature and receive; she feels nature makes demands on her, draining her energy and emotions. This reveals that she experiences her power as a burden and a loss of control, not a gift. Her resistance also reflects her broader desire to define herself on her own terms—she insists she's a waitress, not a naturalist, and she chose literature over botany.

2. How does Atlas Blakely use leverage to persuade Reina, and what does this suggest about the Society's recruitment methods?

Atlas uses several forms of leverage: the three seedlings as a test, the promise of three answers, the Circe manuscript as a rare and desirable object, and the threat of an alternative candidate (a traveler) who could take her spot. He also frames the invitation as exclusive and uncertain—she's tied for sixth, and his council isn't unanimous. This suggests the Society recruits through competition, scarcity, and personal appeal, targeting candidates' desires and insecurities.

3. What does the Circe manuscript represent to Reina, and why is it an effective lure?

The manuscript represents knowledge, escape, and a connection to mythology—the stories Reina has used as refuge from her power and her past. Circe's tale of exile, transformation, and control resonates with Reina's own experience of being defined by her ability. The manuscript is effective because it offers something she cannot get elsewhere: access to a lost text that speaks directly to her identity and desires, and it comes with the promise of more if she accepts the invitation.