Alice sees Elias' changes and decides immediately that he could never be human. Sorcerer Cartaphilius, who is attempting to capture the black dog by manipulating Renfred and Alice, causes Elias to show a completely different side of himself when his "work" hurts Chise. Those who know Elias call him the Pilum Murialis.

Elias, is an odd failure who pretends to be human -- but is it because of his master's words, or because of his distrust for humans, that he stopped communicating about himself? Lindel's alias, Echoes, refers to the to a song akin to the sound of snowmelt, traveling through the wind, causing the blooming of flowers and the dancing of fairies. The magic of the song turns into a mirror the surface of the water Chise peers into. What does she see beyond the mirror?

Chise and Elias are in the middle of shearing Wooly Bugs, magical creatures who eat cold from the air and grow wool with magical properties. Chise becomes distracted and is attacked. As Chise recovers, she and Elias open themselves up to each other more.

Christmas is coming up. Alice invites Chise out to London, where they hang out together and go gift shopping for Renfred and Elias.

As the dragon rampages, Elias tells Chise they must absorb the dragon’s magic in order to stop it. This leaves Chise in a predicament as Elias becomes unable to help.

Having captured Chise, Cartaphilus begins grafting parts of her onto himself. He forces her to relive some of her worst memories.

Cartaphilus and Chise argue over their respective approaches to dealing with their own suffering, beating each other up brutally in the process.