Myne discovers how frail her body is when she can hardly take a few steps before running out of breath: Lutz, a neighborhood kid the same age as Myne, offers his help and Otto gives her his old slate.

While everyone is snowed in by the harsh winter, Myne has a plan to craft pseudo-papyrus as the first step towards making a book and is told to think about where she wants to apprentice.

Spring has arrived and Myne is raring to go make clay tablets in the forest, but first she must convince her family that she can handle the journey.

The day of Baptism has come and Turi is attracting attention with a hair ornament made by Myne, who has more opportunities to go to the forest, but is shocked by repeated papermaking failures and she got a high fever before the meeting with Otto.