In another insight, Leez of the future tells the man that he failed to see the one important thing that would have stopped him from giving her a choice.
Leez is uncomfortable with the man being practically in her face and discussing her death, so he steps back and asks for her answer. She reasons that people can die at any time, but the dead never come back; he counters that her situation is different, because she cannot die unless he allows it. His words don't make any sense to her and so she tries to take her leave, but finds her feet stuck in place. As he continues to press for an answer, Leez spots some people approaching nearby and puts on a crying act, saying she can't go home because this man won't let her. To her dismay, the man already changed back to a little boy and pretends to play a game of tag with her. The people think the whole thing is funny and walk away, while Leez becomes furious and yells at the boy. He notices that she changes her speech and attitude according to his appearance, and asks if she ever considered that his adult form is his real one? After Leez teases him a bit more, he says he is out of time, and he will ask her the question again the next time they meet. When she asks him for his name and introduces herself as Leez, he tells her it's not her name, but she should keep using her alias. He also warns her not to talk about the "magic" she saw that day, and vanishes.
Leez returns the box to the front of the shop, now closed for the night. On her way back to the Fire temple she runs into an angry Asha. She blubbers about the birthday present that she had but lost, and begins to cry about trying her best and failing. Asha tells her to stop crying, that the present is as good as received, and that they need to start preparations tomorrow for their departure to Kalibloom. Leez is happy with the news of their destination once she remembers the Priest of Earth is there.
Somewhere near Rindhallow, Gandharva asks the man where he went off to since he and Maruna had been looking for him. He replies that he only went for a walk, and Gandharva says good, because he thought he went to Atera against his counsel. When the man accuses Gandharva of not trusting him, he responds that he is only on his team to find out what happened to his daughter; if it turns out that she is dead, their association will come to an end. "Never forget it, Kubera."
Spoilers and Trivia
- In this insight, the sky is red, leading some to speculate that Leez could be in the sura realm. In the insight in the last chapter, the sky still appeared to be that of the human realm.
- Kubera notes that Leez changes her attitude according to appearance. This gets her into unexpected trouble with Yuta later on.[1]
- Kubera shows up later in the series to ask his question again.[2]
- Though as promised, Leez doesn't ask around about Mister, she does find things about him suspicious, and much later asks if he did a background check on her.[3]
- Leez later realizes that Asha couldn't find her earlier because Leez was outside of her range for hoti surya.[4]
- To Leez, Asha accepting her present was a very significant moment to her, as she recalls it much later on.[5]
 speaks of the past  loses things  rarely smiles |