Asphodel notices her uncle Harp's unusual cheerfulness, energized by sharing his fortune with their growing household. Her friend Valeria visits, and the two play basketball together with rough, joking intimacy. Cleo Allfrey, working on her darkroom, watches them laugh.

While helping Val pin back her bangs, Asphodel impulsively kisses her, and Val kisses back. Val asks whether Harp knows they are in love, and Asphodel, shaken, declares her love aloud, recognizing its truth even as both girls look frightened.

That night, Harp comes to rehearse part of his Founder's Day speech, anxious about delivering it. The conversation turns to Asphodel's mother, Lada, and Harp shares an hour of memories about their childhood—including Lada's unique ability to carve a J on the ice with her skate—revealing his lingering pride and grief.

Asphodel dreams she is a three-legged rabbit fleeing a hunters' drive across the prairie. Her mother's voice runs through her, urging her to breathe and keep running. She wakes in her dead mother's bed, a human girl again, carrying both grief and the will to keep going.