Later, Afsan stops at his home-town of Pack Carno. Whilst there, he peeks in the Pack's nursery, and witnesses a shocking event: a male Quintaglio, garbed in a purple robe, chasing and devouring all but one of the hatchlings from an entire clutch of eggs. Afsan learns that this Quintaglio is what is known as a Hal-Pataars; a Bloodpriest. It has been their job since ancient times to control the Quintaglio population by culling all but the single strongest hatchlings from each clutch of eggs. Shaken by the event, he later wonders if the governors of the province- who all bear a resemblance to Len-Lends, the former Empress- were exempted from the culling of the Bloodpriests.