Samah tells Alfred about the early days of Chelestra soon after the Sundering, when the mensch came to Surunan, terrified of the dragon-snakes and begging for sanctuary in the Sartan city. The Sartan go to confront the dragon-snakes, who say they want the destruction of the Sartan, and say that the Sartan created them. The Sartan can sense that the dragon-snakes are evil, "older than time itself", and show even more hatred for the Sartan than the Patryns ever did. The dragon-snakes repeatedly attacked the city, and the Sartan were defenceless, because of the effect of the seawater on their magic. The Sartan sent the mensch away to live on the seamoons, thinking, correctly, that the dragon-snakes would leave the mensch alone and just keep attacking the Sartan. Then the Sartan sent out a call for help from the other worlds, and went into stasis.