The Com­pass takes cen­ter stage in Kya’s life dur­ing July 1969, mark­ing a peri­od of emo­tion­al reflec­tion and per­son­al achieve­ment. Kya receives a copy of The East­ern Sea­coast Birds, a book she had con­tributed to with a paint­ing of a her­ring gull, now immor­tal­ized on the cov­er. Elat­ed by this recog­ni­tion, she decides to take the book to her favorite oak clear­ing, a place where she often seeks out mush­rooms, per­haps in an attempt to recon­nect with the sim­pler parts of her life. While at the clear­ing, Kya stum­bles upon an old milk car­ton, which, when opened, reveals a brass-cased, army-issued com­pass accom­pa­nied by a note from Tate. The com­pass, once belong­ing to Tate’s grand­fa­ther who fought in World War I, is not just a func­tion­al tool for nav­i­ga­tion. To Kya, it becomes a potent sym­bol of direc­tion, espe­cial­ly dur­ing moments when the path ahead seems unclear. The com­pass rep­re­sents Tate’s love and the sta­bil­i­ty that Kya once found in him—offering her com­fort and remind­ing her of the guid­ance he once pro­vid­ed when she was lost, both lit­er­al­ly and fig­u­ra­tive­ly.

As she reads Tate’s heart­felt note, Kya is swept up by mem­o­ries of their shared past, reflect­ing on the ten­der­ness of their ear­li­er days togeth­er. She recalls how Tate would guide her through dif­fi­cult storms, not only teach­ing her prac­ti­cal sur­vival skills like read­ing, but also nur­tur­ing her intel­lec­tu­al growth. Their rela­tion­ship blos­somed, filled with mutu­al affec­tion and shared expe­ri­ences, mark­ing some of the hap­pi­est moments of Kya’s life. How­ev­er, these fond mem­o­ries are taint­ed by the emo­tion­al scars left behind by Tate’s aban­don­ment. Despite the depth of her feel­ings for him, Kya strug­gles to ful­ly trust him again, unsure if she can face the pos­si­bil­i­ty of anoth­er heart­break. The pain of betray­al still looms large, pre­vent­ing her from ful­ly embrac­ing the affec­tion that Tate has once again offered. The fluc­tu­at­ing emo­tions with­in Kya mir­ror the errat­ic move­ments of fire­flies in the marsh, unpre­dictable and fleet­ing. Jodie, her broth­er, encour­ages her to con­sid­er open­ing her heart to Tate again, but Kya remains hes­i­tant, caught between long­ing for the past and the fear of more pain.

Kya, try­ing to rec­on­cile her inner tur­moil, takes the com­pass and ven­tures into the fog­gy estu­ar­ies, hop­ing to find solace in the peace­ful, untouched cor­ners of the swamp. Her goal is to find rare flow­ers, but there is also a sub­con­scious desire to encounter Tate in the still­ness of the morn­ing. The fog envelops her, adding a sense of mys­tery and uncer­tain­ty to the scene, much like the con­fu­sion she feels in her heart. Her explo­ration of the estu­ar­ies, filled with mut­ed sounds and the haunt­ing beau­ty of the marsh, con­trasts with the emo­tion­al chaos Kya expe­ri­ences. As she walks, every step she takes seems to be a search for clar­i­ty, a way to untan­gle the con­flict­ing feel­ings she has toward Tate. Her mind drifts back to mem­o­ries of their past, and the antic­i­pa­tion of pos­si­bly encoun­ter­ing him seems to mir­ror her desire for clo­sure. The fog seems to hold the same weight as the emo­tion­al fog in her life, where past wounds have yet to ful­ly heal, and the future remains uncer­tain. The com­pass, while offer­ing direc­tion in the phys­i­cal world, stands as a reminder that Kya’s emo­tion­al jour­ney is far more com­plex. The more she walks, the more she comes to real­ize that while she can chart a course through the swamp, find­ing a way through her tan­gled emo­tions will require a dif­fer­ent kind of navigation—one that only time and per­son­al growth can pro­vide.

Kya’s ven­ture into the mist, dri­ven by both her search for rare flow­ers and her desire for clar­i­ty, sym­bol­izes the ongo­ing con­flict with­in her. She seeks both peace and answers, but they are elu­sive, hid­den in the fog of her emo­tions. The com­pass rep­re­sents a tan­gi­ble con­nec­tion to her past with Tate, yet it is also a reminder of the uncer­tain­ties that still cloud her future. This chap­ter poignant­ly illus­trates Kya’s strug­gle to rec­on­cile the love she feels with the fear and pain of her past, sug­gest­ing that find­ing true peace in her heart will be a jour­ney that can­not be rushed. The deep­er themes of emo­tion­al heal­ing and trust are woven through­out, show­ing Kya’s growth and the inter­nal bat­tles she must face to move for­ward. This chap­ter not only explores Kya’s rela­tion­ship with Tate but also empha­sizes the broad­er human expe­ri­ence of nav­i­gat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of love, loss, and per­son­al growth.