Envoy drifts in and out of consciousness over an unknown period, still hallucinating the presence of a couple of "Naga fairies". At last, she finds herself back in Inala's Paradise, right where she left off. She decides that the best way to get Inala's attention is to entertain her, so she goes about this by singing a melody with such power that it reshapes the apparent "reality" around her as she does so. Her gambit succeeds, as Inala appears in Paradise, pleased with Envoy's performance. However, before she will grant any sort of boon, she demands that there be a contest. She picks the foppish fox as Envoy's opponent … and declares that failure means that one will be "turned over to Sunala" – that is, death. Envoy, however, refuses to win Morpheus' freedom at the fop fox's expense, and begs Inala to present some other option. This angers Inala, but Envoy pleads that she is willing to accept the risk, so long as the fop fox is spared it. Inala, however, is not convinced that the fox, lacking proper incentive, will give his best effort. The fox makes a whispered proposal to Inala, and at last she agrees. The contest begins. Envoy and the fop fox perform musical numbers first with a band, then solo. But for the last number, they are to perform a duet, and Inala will somehow decide the victor from this. To plan for this, they are left alone, as they discuss and debate their strategy.