Rory and Silhouette travel back to visit Koshiro, to ask him some more questions (and some of the same ones). Koshiro, annoyed at Rory's repeated questioning, spells out that, yes, Rory is Corwin, reborn through magic, and Silhouette appears to be a spirit manifestation of Sylvan – which is a surprise to the shadow-dragon. Koshiro suggests that it was a poor trade, Sylvan's life for Corwin's, but Silhouette protests this. Rory is still uncertain about this, and even more so when he relates some of his flashbacks of Corwin's life, and Koshiro insists that Rory must be mistaken, that what he "remembers" can't be possible: Corwin could not have had the "gift" stripped from him, and then later "recovered". It would be akin to having his soul stripped from him, and the soul growing back … which Koshiro insists is impossible. Rory exhausts what questions he feel he can ask without pushing Koshiro too much, and then at last decides that it is time to go and make certain that the house is properly shut off, before he meets up with Reece again and rejoins the others back at the airship.