While returning, everyone noticed the illuminated tunnel. The pilot, Shnemo, told them that he had passed through it when it was dark, and that something had happened inside that tunnel. The companions remembered the cold air that swept over them while they lay in the mud, and they asked the captain if he also remembered the air that had passed by them on the way.
He answered, "Yes, I remember it. It passed with strange noises. I believe those very sounds lit up the tunnel when they returned."
When the girl Amini heard his words, she was frightened and said to her sister:
"Do ghosts follow us?"
Her sister Kasha replied:
"Most likely the accumulated sounds entered from the surface of the earth through the tunnel and reached us here. These voices give us hope that one day our sister Akemi will return."
Kasha then sang to comfort her sister:
I walk with my sister underground
And my sister in the sky was taken by the cloud
My aunt and maid are above the ground, waiting
We left our home above the ground
We found an underground palace
My father and mother own no wealth, no gold—only the unknown
And the king holds a palace and goes into the unknown
We entered the palace, and no one guarded us
Only our voices are calling, sister
We feel as if she walks with us, guarding us
This king saddened me, and not even all his guards could save him
O King, we left your palace with the guards
But the knight of my dreams will return, sit on your throne, and take care of it
King, if you do not return the palace to my sister
Then I shall sing, and those voices will rise
We will return, and my sister Akemi will return, and she will own the palace.
Amini told her sister that as she sang, she heard musical tones woven into her voice, as if music itself was accompanying her song.
She asked:
"Did you bring a musical instrument with you from the palace?"
Kasha replied:
"I carried no instrument. I think those voices were playing for me."
After Amini grew tired from walking, everyone sat down to rest and soon fell asleep. The guards remained awake, keeping watch.
Hours later, they noticed the light inside the tunnel beginning to fade. They woke the pilot and told him that something strange was happening—the light was disappearing.
The pilot stood watching the scene and said:
"It is as if the white clouds have passed and vanished, and now the black clouds have taken their place. What a sight… as though we were above the ground."