- Sadima walks the herd of goats home, listening in on their thoughts about grass, corn, and water. She thinks about painting, which she loves to do but has to keep a secret from her father, who disapproves of anything not useful.
- When she gets home, Micah tells her that he talked their dad into letting her come with him to buy a horse. Off they go.
- In town, they see Mattie Han, who's all friendly and stuff, and is disappointed that Sadima never gets to come visit her and her daughters. Apparently Sadima's dad is pretty paranoid and over-protective. It's hard to blame him considering what happened to his wife, though.
- Micah and Sadima go to check out some horses, when Sadima feels a wave of fear wash over her. There are a bunch of men whipping a large gray horse. The owner says to get the horse out, and sell it for as cheaply as they can.
- Sadima walks into the corral, asks how cheap, and settles on a price of three coppers. Then she walks up to the horse, calms him down, and puts a halter on him.
- Everyone is staring. As they leave, Sadima tells the horse that he'll have a better life at their farm—she thinks that if people could feel the same pain animals felt, there'd be less animal cruelty.
- Micah tells her that what she did was stupid and dangerous, but Sadima knows the truth: she was never in any danger with that horse, he was just afraid of the men beating him. But she can never tell anyone that, since she's different from other people.