Sforzando, the songbird, comes upon the swordsman, who has been bitten by a sound-eating creature. He asks the man if he is okay, and the man replies that he is, and that he would like to take care of the wounded man. The swordsman tells him that it is his first touch of a man, and he says that he does not know what it is like to touch a man's body for the first time. He tells the man that his mother used to sing to protect the village from sound-eaters, but that she was killed trying to do so, and songs were prohibited in the village. The songbird says that she likes the song, and wants to know more about the man. He says that it would be troublesome for the man to leave the village if he found out that the man already lived there. He promises to nurse the man back to health if the man will sing for him.