Chapters 25-36 Summary

Chapter 25: Ba and Ma are sad that Minli is gone. Ma seems to grow older and paler each day and Ba loses the twinkle in his eyes. They try to comfort one another and have faith that Minli will return.

Chapter 26: Minli sneaks out of the Imperial Palace after waking up. She goes to meet Dragon who is sleeping near the Guardian lions. Dragon and Minli then exchange stories about their respective borrowed lines and cannot figure out which borrowed line is the real one.

Chapter 27: Minli and Dragon continue their journey as the land becomes rockier. Eventually they spy a village up ahead and decide to spend the night in a nearby cave. They are growing colder as they increase in elevation and Minli hopes to find warm clothes in the village. But Minli cannot sleep because she is worried...