Summary

Niska's first person narration begins again in this chapter as it is past midday on the second day of their journey and Niska is hungry. She paddles to the shore and makes a bannock by the fire. Xavier still will not eat anything and that frustrates Niska. But she does know he suffers in a way she cannot see so she decides to feed him another story instead. Niska moves closer to him even though it seems Xavier wants to be alone. As Niska looks at her surroundings, she tries to push down the fear she feels since she does not recognize the land and she believes they have entered a place where they have never been before.

Her story starts as she tells Xavier that he is too young to remember his grandmother and that she died suddenly from an illness. Niska's...