Iris arrived home still stung by Roman’s earlier criticisms and discovered her mother, Aster, dressed up with candles lit and an expensive dinner laid out. Realizing the food was likely paid for with money from her late grandmother’s pawned radio, Iris ate anyway, hungry for both nourishment and sober conversation. Aster, however, was not fully sober, yet she asked about Iris’s work and listened as Iris cautiously described her duties at the Gazette without mentioning Roman.

Seeking comfort, Iris asked Aster to curl her hair. In the bathroom and then bedroom, Aster washed Iris’s hair with rainwater and set it in rollers, and they spoke about Iris’s rival at work. Aster intuited that a boy had insulted Iris, affirmed her confidence in Iris, and invoked Forest’s protective nature. Their intimacy stirred Iris’s memories of Forest enlisting after encountering the goddess Enva, whose music compelled him to answer a calling, leaving Iris with unasked questions and fear.

Growing emotional, Iris asked if Aster believed Forest was alive. Aster insisted she would know if her son had died and promised to improve herself, predicting Forest’s return soon. Despite recognizing the haze of alcohol in Aster’s eyes, Iris chose to believe her mother’s reassurance, ending the scene on a fragile hope and a moment of restored closeness.

Meanwhile, Roman returned home preoccupied by his failed exchange with Iris and walked into a formal gathering hosted by his parents for Dr. Herman Little and his daughter, Elinor. Roman observed his imposing father, Ronald Kitt, and his gentle but distracted mother, and noted Elinor’s cold demeanor. Over dinner, the fathers dominated conversation with chemistry and railroads, while Roman brooded over class ambitions imposed by his father and his own thwarted academic desires.

The talk shifted to music and Enva when Elinor stated she no longer played piano due to her father’s concerns about Enva’s influence. Roman defended Enva’s music as guiding and truthful, drawing a tense silence and a rebuke from his father. Questions about press restrictions on war reporting hinted at possible censorship, and Mr. Kitt boasted of ensuring Roman’s columnist promotion, echoing Iris’s earlier accusation about bribery.

As Roman tried to leave, Mr. Kitt announced an arranged marriage between Roman and Elinor, framed as a celebratory union to aid the families’ next endeavor. Though stunned and sensing hidden motives, Roman suppressed his emotions and agreed, compelled by duty and lingering guilt from past family grief. During the perfunctory toast, he noticed fear in Elinor’s eyes, recognizing she was also trapped.