In the present, Niska relates another tale of her childhood. When her mother dies and Niska is lonely, her visions return. Some of the visions are strange, including images of war, while others are more familiar. When Niska thinks that she is the only human being left alive in the cold, and feels as if she might be consumed by her loneliness, she has a vision of a boy, and knows at once that it is Xavier. She then realizes that she needs to rescue Xavier, but that she will not simply take him. She will ask him if he wants to live with her in the bush. If he says yes, she will help him leave the residential school. She makes the trek to town and, after spying Xavier playing one day and speaking with him, he says that he wants to live with her. She returns later, and while Sister Magdalene forces Xavier to row, Niska sneaks up and scares the nun so that she falls in the water, then takes Xavier.

The two have a fruitful time in the beginning, but then harder times come. When these rough patches arrive, Niska wonders if she has done the right thing in taking Xavier.