Cion 1 and 2

Like many of you guys, I attempted to read Cion before school started, but to no success. However, after the reading the first two chapters, I am actually looking forward to reading it. My favorite part is how the chapters are split up so that one talks about what happens in Athens in the story's real-time, but then chapter 2 switches to the story as interpreted through the quilt. My only question at this point is who is the sciolist and why does he have a habit of abandoning Toloki, first in Durham then in Athens?