358 years is an odd number
seven years from 358 will be 365 years.
Maybe something significant will happen to Silk in the 365th year, like Enoch, who "was not".
Silk will be 365 years old, since he was an embryo when he joined the whorl.
"I am an impure thinker. I am hurt, swayed, shaken, | paul + | + elated, disillusioned, shocked, comforted, and I | --|-- have to transmit my mental experiences lest I die." | + | +
-- Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy | pduggan at world.std.com
*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.