In Year Fifteen, François Diallo resumes his interview project in the Traveling Symphony’s temporary home of New Petoskey. After Raymonde asks if he has more questions, Diallo admits he does but that Raymonde refused to answer them; Raymonde agrees to continue only if Diallo stops recording. Kirsten also agrees to speak off the record.

Asked what she thinks of when considering how the world has changed, Kirsten answers, killing, and challenges Diallo on whether he has ever had to do it. When Diallo presses, Kirsten indicates through her knife tattoos that she has killed two people. Diallo reflects that most Symphony members’ histories share the same pattern of loss, long walking, and eventually finding the Symphony.

Kirsten turns the question back on Diallo, who says he thinks of his Paris apartment and the life he lost when air travel ceased. Diallo asks about Kirsten’s facial scar, and Kirsten explains she does not remember how she got it during “that year” she cannot recall; her older brother never told her, saying it was better she not remember.

Diallo asks what Kirsten’s brother was like, and Kirsten says he was sad because he remembered everything. She finally explains his death: he stepped on a nail and died from infection, a preventable death in the old world. With sunset approaching, Kirsten leaves to join her friends, and Diallo walks her out.

Diallo asks why Kirsten did not want her comments recorded, since he has heard similar confessions before. Kirsten explains she keeps celebrity-gossip clippings about Arthur Leander, and the habit has made her understand permanent records; she does not want killing to be what she is remembered for. Diallo accompanies Kirsten to the Symphony’s bridge performance, where townspeople sit on benches facing the bay, the musicians settle, and the conductor raises her baton as the concert begins.