On a clear night, Ted, Joar, and Christian’s mother recount to Louisa what happened after the museum incident. Christian’s mother had asked Kimkim about other works and, learning he had many drawings, went to Ted’s basement where hundreds were laid out. Ted’s mother found them there, met Ali and, amid shared grief over lost spouses and parents, bonded with her while teaching her to cook lasagna. The evening marked rare warmth in Ted’s home, with mutual acknowledgments of love and care.

Christian’s mother later gathered Kimkim’s drawings and brought them into the world, beginning the next chapter of his life. Shortly after, the four friends buried rocks with their names at the crossroads as a vow to reunite. As summer ended, Ted reflected to Louisa that their many moments of laughter made it a happy story despite its sorrows.

In autumn, Christian’s mother arranged for Kimkim to attend an art school far away. She urged him not to be normal, and left his drawings with his mother, who gradually understood him. Kimkim’s father drove him to school, confessing shame in himself but pride in his son; the parents sold belongings to support his studies, with help from Christian’s mother and donations from harbor workers. Kimkim’s mother later declined mentally and died; soon after, his father died peacefully. Kimkim buried both on the same day and left town to pursue the wider world.

Louisa then asked what happened to Ali. Ted and Joar told how Ali moved abroad to the sea, learned to surf, and found joy and purpose there. She and Joar wrote letters for years as she excelled, but not long after her eighteenth birthday, she went out to surf one morning and never returned. Louisa grieved intensely, and Ted and Joar shared how stories and deaths recur in pain. They remembered Ali’s loud, vivid life and joked about her and Fish in heaven.

Christian’s mother explained that art helps her endure death, calling it fragile magic and a shield, quoting van Gogh about loving many things. Ted then described how, after art school, Kimkim returned to bury his parents, and he, Joar, and Ted made a symbolic grave for Ali with a painted stone. That night on the pier, Kimkim said he might stay and work in the harbor; Joar, knowing Kimkim might trap himself out of loyalty, cruelly drove him away to force him to leave and grow. Ted encouraged travel, and Kimkim left; Joar secretly watched the taxi depart.

Months later, Kimkim called Joar from Asia, ecstatic about a mural, showing he could be happy away from home. Joar admitted he later struggled with alcohol and shame and never boarded planes to visit, wanting Kimkim to remember him as he was. Ted kept visiting Joar despite pushback. Kimkim also avoided returning, afraid of reverting to the hurt child he had been. Near the end of Kimkim’s life, Joar and Kimkim spoke about Ali, joked, and exchanged love; Joar recalled Kimkim saying he did not paint like birds sing, but that he painted the way they laughed.

As rain began, they went inside. Ted and Louisa bickered playfully about ownership of her drawing of Kimkim on Joar’s fridge, reaffirming their bond. When Joar lifted Kimkim’s painting and Christian’s mother entered, she was overwhelmed—not by the painting, but by Louisa’s drawing, which she recognized as “incredible,” signaling Louisa’s own artistic power.