In Chap­ter 186 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Patch reflects on his daugh­ter, envi­sion­ing her tend­ing bees while wear­ing a new neck­lace, rem­i­nis­cent of her grand­moth­er’s past. He finds him­self deep in thought about the nature of peo­ple and their hid­den rot, under­stand­ing that appear­ances can be deceiv­ing. Despite being aware of the man’s exte­ri­or, Patch knows that true insight requires look­ing beyond the sur­face to uncov­er the poi­son with­in.

While lis­ten­ing to Jim­my’s remarks, Patch is dis­tract­ed, con­sumed by mem­o­ries of Saint, his friend, who epit­o­mized good­ness and care. He remem­bers her deter­mi­na­tion while wan­der­ing through bit­ter win­ter woods, per­sis­tent­ly search­ing for him, and how she lov­ing­ly cared for her grand­moth­er and Char­lotte. Patch is struck by a sense of injus­tice, know­ing this man has tak­en so much from some­one who only gave, prompt­ing a real­iza­tion: he can­not allow his daugh­ter to grow up in a world where good peo­ple remain pas­sive. He reflects on the changes in him­self, admit­ting to hav­ing aban­doned his past self, yet rec­og­niz­ing the bond he shared with Saint—once a team, insep­a­ra­ble.

Address­ing Jim­my, Patch probes his mem­o­ry of their past inter­ac­tions and Saint, specif­i­cal­ly recall­ing the painful moment when she was accused of mur­der­ing Jim­my’s child. Patch con­tem­plates the com­plex themes of pur­pose, free will, and deter­min­ism, pon­der­ing whether Jim­my’s actions were part of a greater nar­ra­tive, or if he had the pow­er to amend his wrong­do­ing. Despite his med­i­ta­tions on moral­i­ty and fate, Patch under­stands the grav­i­ty of the moment and accepts that noth­ing he knows can alter what is about to tran­spire. Through intro­spec­tion, he grap­ples with the inevitabil­i­ty of choic­es made and their con­se­quences, set­ting the stage for a con­fronta­tion that may change every­thing.