At New Year, Madame realizes that Etienne’s future is uncertain because she has made no preparations for him after her death. She wants to talk to him about it but does not wish to ruin his happy mood and decides to tell him another day. Etienne sits astride Paras and knows he wants to ride but fears making the dream a reality.

While Etienne reads in the library, Paras talks to Kurt about her life as a racehorse and why she never had rat friends before. Kurt rides Paras’s head back to the grand salon and, though he does not enjoy the ride, he knows doing so is his best hope of escaping the house and finding a mate.

Raoul acknowledges that he is old and will soon need to surrender his perch above Benjamin Franklin’s head to a younger bird. That night, he travels with Paras to Anais’s bakery. The baker believes Paras is a spiritual visitation rather than a real horse; when she sees Raoul with Paras, she thinks he is the spirit’s animal companion. She worries that she is getting old and lonely, so she enjoys the visits from Paras even though she thinks Paras is not real.