Vasya travels south, and on her first night alone, she successfully makes a shelter and fire under a spruce tree. A female chyert (spirit) with midnight-colored skin and pale hair drops from the branches. She introduces herself as Polunochnitsa, or Midnight, alarming Vasya, who knows stories of the dangerous demon-sister. Midnight says she was sent to observe Vasya—but not by Morozko—and promises to see her twice more before disappearing.

Weeks pass. The journey is hard, and Vasya catches a cold. They reach the Volga River and Chudovo, the largest town she has ever seen. She disguises herself as a boy named Vasilii Petrovich and makes Solovey feign lameness to persuade the gate captain to let them pass.

Inside, Vasya is overwhelmed by the crowded, smelly, noisy streets. In the central market, a tall, red-bearded boyar in a wolfskin cloak notices her. He introduces himself as Kasyan Lutovich and says her face is familiar, inviting her to eat with him. Vasya, as Vasilii, nervously refuses and escapes. Near the city gate, she spots a bathhouse in an inn-yard and decides to get clean. As she enters, a small boy detaches from the shadows and runs off, unnoticed by Vasya. She pays the inn-wife with silver and enjoys a large meal.

In the bathhouse, she encounters the bannik, the bathhouse’s guardian spirit. She makes a polite offering, and the bannik accepts. Suddenly, she hears Solovey’s furious squeal and a crash. Two men burst in, having been sent to find a boy. They discover a naked girl instead and prepare to assault her. The bannik attacks them, scalding the first with hot water and driving the second out with an invisible birch switch.

Vasya quickly dresses and runs outside to find that Solovey has broken free and killed one man. A sudden snowstorm descends over the town, aiding her escape. Vasya leaps onto Solovey’s back, and they flee through the blinding snow. A short distance away from the town, the storm ceases. Wet and freezing, Vasya rides away into the forest.

Vasya and Solovey flee through the night and the next day. Snow falls and covers their tracks. The following morning, Vasya wakes with a high fever, too weak to travel. She forces herself to walk, hallucinating from illness and cold.

Morozko appears at her side as she is about to collapse. He carries her to shelter under a large spruce tree and starts a fire. As Vasya loses consciousness, Morozko stops her, refusing to let her die. He uses her glowing sapphire necklace to heal her, drawing out the cold and breaking her fever. He then heals her incipient frostbite and holds her as she falls into a safe sleep.

She wakes the next morning, recovered, to find him carving a wooden bird. She angrily accuses him of waiting until she was near death to rescue her. He tells her that she needed to learn what it is like to be dying. When she again refuses to go home, he becomes angry. She notes he looks almost human when angry. Her comment makes him remote and cold again, and he abruptly leaves.

Morozko’s white mare confronts him, saying that Vasya is making him alive, and he cannot love and be immortal. Morozko admits he cannot let Vasya die but also does not want to become human. He resolves to leave her to her fate after this.

Morozko returns to Vasya that evening with food. After she eats, he asks if she still wants to be a traveler. She says yes. Over the next four nights, he teaches her to fight with a knife and fashions a heavy, sharp dagger from an icicle. Vasya asks to learn magic, but Morozko insists that magic is only forcing the world to be as one wills.

On the fourth night, Vasya asks him about his role as a death-god, specifically in her father’s death. She grows angry at his perceived indifference, accusing him of stealing her family from her. Her grief overwhelms her, and she breaks down weeping. Prompted by Solovey, Morozko comforts her. He tells her that she is brave and kisses her gently on the mouth. He leaves the fireside, and Vasya falls asleep with the ice-knife in her hand.

As she sleeps, the mare urges Morozko to tell Vasya the truth about her lineage and the talisman. Morozko refuses, declaring that this is the last time he will interfere in her life.

Vasya wakes to find Morozko gone. The ice dagger he gave her has been transformed into one of pale metal in a leather sheath, and her saddlebags are restocked. Solovey relays a final message from Morozko: Practice with the knife but do not carry it openly. Vasya is furious that he left without a word.

Days later, they discover the frozen body of a man killed by a sword or ax. Following his tracks, they find a smoldering village. The villagers mistake Vasya for one of the attackers and intend to kill her. Vasya leaps over them on Solovey. The villagers tell her that bandits attacked and stole three little girls.

Vasya resolves to rescue the girls. Finding no tracks left by the bandits, she returns to the village and enters an empty hut. She summons the domovoi (household spirit) from the oven and asks for help finding the child. The domovoi gives her a piece of charcoal and tells her to follow its light. Vasya and Solovey follow the glowing coal through the night to the bandits’ camp and find 12 men and the three captive girls.

Vasya sends Solovey into the firelight, where the magnificent horse mesmerizes the bandits. As the men are distracted trying to catch him, Vasya frees their horses and howls like a wolf, causing all the horses to panic and bolt. The bandit leader sends all but one man after the horses. Vasya sneaks up behind the remaining sentry and stabs him, killing him. She frees the girls, destroys the bandits’ weapons, and puts out their fire.

She leads the children into the woods and reunites with Solovey. The bandit captain rides up on a mare and attacks as they escape. Solovey leaps away, and they flee into darkness. Lost and pursued, Vasya is visited again by Polunochnitsa, who tells her the bandits are Lord Chelubey’s people and advises her to ride west until dawn.

Vasya and the girls ride west all night and, at dawn, with their pursuers closing in, they see a monastery. Vasya rides to the gate and begs for sanctuary. Inside, Vasya dismounts and is confronted by a monk. To her joy, she recognizes her brother Sasha, but he reacts with horror and asks what she is doing there.