Parvana plans to continue her journey the following day and lies to Asif when she tells him she has a plan to find her mother. Asif tries to convince her to stay while maintaining his tough and rude attitude, but he changes tact when he sees she has made up her mind. He says he will come with her just to annoy her, and Parvana stays silent, hiding the sense of relief she feels that she won’t have to leave him behind. In the morning, they decide to eat some rice while they have the means to cook it, and before they can stop themselves, they eat almost the whole pot. Parvana grabs for the pot to take it away from Asif, but she accidentally knocks it over. Food is so precious that they pick up the grains of rice off the ground one by one before beginning to walk. 

After four days of walking, Parvana, Asif, and Hassan are weak from hunger and thirst. Parvana tries to ask Asif about his family, but he refuses to give her any information. In her next letter to Shauzia, Parvana writes that she has lost her ability to believe in fairytales and stories.