Late at night in Avalon Bluff, Roman Kitt sits down intending to write another article for Dacre, but instead finds himself producing strange, personal lines about surviving death and bearing scars with hidden meaning. The words feel unlike the propaganda Dacre wants, and Roman, exhausted from trying to recover his missing memories, gives up for the night and falls asleep fully dressed.

Roman dreams of a childhood memory with a younger sister named Delaney, whom he and his family call Del. In the dream, Del drags him through their family garden, their mother calls them by their middle names, and Roman suddenly realizes they preferred those names: Carver and Georgiana. The dream then turns painful as Roman relives Delaney's death by drowning in a pond and wakes in tears, shaken by the conviction that the memory may be real and that he failed to save her.

Unable to stay in his room, Roman goes downstairs for milk and finds Dacre studying maps in the kitchen. Roman notices Dacre quickly gathering the papers, suggesting he does not want Roman to see his plans. Their conversation turns to Roman's memory loss, the first article Roman wrote for Dacre, and the newspaper that printed it in Oath. Dacre confirms he is heading toward Oath to reunite with Enva, whom he describes as his wife and betrayer, framing the war as part of his attempt to stop her deceptions.

When Roman tells Dacre about dreaming of Delaney, Dacre responds by discussing his own sister, Alva, whom he identifies as the goddess of dreams and nightmares. Dacre claims mortal dreams often reflect longing rather than truth and argues that Roman's vision of a sister is probably only a wish to belong. He then presses Roman to stop dwelling on the past and focus on the future instead, subtly steering Roman away from trusting his own memories. Roman, emotionally vulnerable, outwardly accepts the lesson and asks to keep the printed newspaper.

Back in his room, Roman studies the byline on the Oath Gazette and notices it reads "Roman C. Kitt." Because Roman had not remembered his middle name when he originally typed the article, he realizes someone else must have added the initial. That discovery, combined with the dream's use of "Carver," confirms another piece of his identity. Roman returns to the typewriter, but rather than writing Dacre's next article, he begins a new account in his own voice: "My name is Roman Carver Kitt, and this is a dead man's story."