The morning after quitting her job, Evie lies in bed, overwhelmed by the events of the previous day—straddling her boss and then resigning. Her younger sister Lyssa tries to comfort her with tea, and Evie admits she has a sickness of the heart. Lyssa offers simple but wise advice before heading off to school, and Evie notices the employer's bargain mark still on her pinkie finger, worrying about potential lethal consequences from breaking her vow.

Evie's father, Griffin Sage, startles her in the kitchen. He looks pale and weak, having stopped taking the medicine Evie's friend made for him because he had been feeling better. Evie guides him back to bed and administers his medicine. When he asks why she isn't at work, Evie tells him she had a fight with her boss. Her father assumes she was at fault and advises her to be honest, reflecting that he wishes he had been more honest with her mother, Nura.

This leads to a rare and emotional conversation about Evie's mother and the family tragedy. After giving birth to Lyssa, Nura Sage's latent magic—the power of starlight—awakened, but it drained her vitality. One day, Nura took the children to the dandelion fields and played with her magic, sending a ball of starlight for Gideon to chase. The light grew uncontrollably, and Gideon was killed by it. Nura left baby Lyssa beside Evie and vanished. Evie's father calls it murder, though Evie believes it was unintentional. Both admit they still miss Nura despite the pain she caused.

Evie reflects on how the tragedy reshaped her life. She gave up her formal education and social life to help raise Lyssa after her father fell into despair. She became isolated and socially anxious, always feeling odd and out of place. Her father's subsequent illness further pushed her into a life defined by duty and self-erasure. She thinks of a broken vase she and Lyssa once tried to repair—a metaphor for her fear that some things, once shattered twice, cannot be fixed.

As Evie sits with her sleeping father, she contemplates how working for The Villain had paradoxically brought her back to life, and how losing that job feels like a return to slow decay. She blinks back tears and reassures her father that everything is all right, echoing words she once told Lyssa in the burned dandelion field after Gideon's death—a brave face masking deep grief.