Summary

In Fairbanks, Matthew’s emotional instability after his mother’s death has left him friendless despite school and his hockey team. The larger city has its conveniences, but it is a place of misery for the homeless Matthew passes on his way home from practice. It is also an interior city, full of “individualists” with half-mad ideas despite its growing economic prosperity (198).

Back at his aunt and uncle’s comfortable homestead, Matthew greets Aly, who watches him closely. Aly had rocked Matthew through his grief when it had felt “bottomless, terrifying” (200). The siblings have finally found the closure to speak of the future instead of the past: Aly wants to move back to Kaneq, perhaps to work on Tom’s new ventures. Matthew knows she will stay with him as long as he needs her, but he wants her to pursue her dreams...