Love and Pain

Summary

• Nora expresses, angrily yet sadly, to Mrs Elm, a librarian, that she dislikes the reality they're currently in and wishes it would stop.
• Mrs Elm tells Nora that if she truly didn't want to be there, she wouldn't be.
• Nora explains her pain—her brother in one of her lives is dead—making her journey very painful.
• Mrs Elm points out that everyone must live with or cause some hurt and that even dying hurts people too. She then asks Nora what life she wishes for next.
• Nora resolutely answers she doesn't want another book or another life, which causes Mrs Elm to visibly pale and the library to experience a minor earthquake, lights going out, books falling, and their chessboard toppling over.
• Mrs Elm forcefully explains to Nora that this universe exists because of her, and when she loses hope, the universe is in jeopardy. She insists Nora has more to offer and should remember her desire for life, even in the face of painful experiences.
• After the tremors subside, Nora offers to help clean up the scattered books—an offer which Mrs Elm declines, suggesting they restore their toppled chess game instead.
• Mrs Elm uses the anecdote of their old school chess games to teach Nora a life lesson about never giving up until the very end. She specifically emphasizes the power and potential of a pawn, despite its ordinary appearance.
• Nora's memory wanders to a day when she was seventeen and, out of sheer idiocy and a desire to prove herself, swam across a river—a memory that physically manifests in their present surroundings, blending with the library.