My Friends

Twenty-five years later, on the beach with Louisa, Ted is clearly overwhelmed by the story he’s told. He says that if they head back, they should be able to catch the next train. As they head back, it starts to rain, and they take shelter to try to protect The One of the Sea. The train arrives, and they both sleep on it for a while before Ted suddenly wakes up and realizes they’re at their destination.

When Ted and Louisa get off at the next station, Ted goes to buy tickets for a transfer. When he comes back, he tells Louisa that police are searching the train because two men at a previous station claim that some strangers attacked them with a metal pipe. Louisa is outraged that those men are lying—they were the attackers—but Ted warns her to keep a low profile.

Some guards stop Louisa and Ted to ask for their tickets and passports. Louisa looks in her backpack but for some reason can’t find her passport. Ted handles the situation by pretending to be Louisa’s father. Apparently, the two men were embarrassed to admit that Louisa beat them up, so they claimed that a “gang” did it, and the police thought Ted looked more like a gang member.

Louisa is amazed by the luxury of their new train, which is a sleeper train with beds on it. She sleeps soundly for the first time in a while. When she and Ted wake up, she asks him what ever happened to Joar’s knife. Ted says Joar was planning to use it at some point when Joar’s mom wasn’t home. Part of Louisa regrets asking and wishes things could have ended with the happy story of the bird going free.