Contents
Chapter Thirty-Four
Overview
Exhausted in the Western Pass, Sora drifts into a vivid childhood memory of poverty, Daysum’s illness, and their bond. The memory twists as Daysum urgently warns Sora to wake and run. Sora jolts awake to a real avalanche bearing down, collapsing the past into an immediate mortal threat.
Summary
In the Western Pass, Sora finally collapses into sleep on the sleigh, her thoughts drifting from worry for Daysum and Ty to hard-won rest. Sleep becomes a memory: her childhood home in Inigo, a cramped two-room shack where her family sang and danced together in brief happiness.
The moment shatters when Daysum begins coughing violently and collapses. Their mother takes charge while their father sprints to fetch a healer. The healer diagnoses purple fever and prescribes herbs and red meat the family cannot afford, exposing their poverty and hinting at the desperation that later led to their being sold.
Quarantined from Daysum, Sora sneaks back to her sister’s side, choosing closeness over caution. In the remembered scene, Daysum once said she would love Sora always. This time, the memory warps: Daysum’s eyes widen and she begs Sora to wake and run, urgency replacing tenderness.
Sora startles awake to a starless pre-dawn. The sleigh is still, and a distant rumble builds into terror as she sees an avalanche thundering toward her. The chapter ends with Sora fully alert, the dream’s warning proven real as imminent danger descends.
Who Appears
- SoraExhausted traveler in the Western Pass; dreams of childhood and Daysum; wakes to an oncoming avalanche.
- DaysumSora’s sister in memory; stricken with purple fever; her love turns to a warning that wakes Sora.
- MotherCalm but worried during Daysum’s collapse; tends her and manages the home.
- FatherDesperate and determined; runs to bring a healer despite the family’s poverty.
- TajSora’s younger brother; present in the early family memory.
- JeeYoungest brother; newly sharing the children’s sleeping space in the memory.
- HealerDiagnoses Daysum with purple fever and prescribes unaffordable remedies.