At the borders of the Dreaming, places that never existed meet in the not-quite-real. In one of these soft places, questions are answered and one last story is played out between the new Sandman, Daniel, and the freshly buried Lord of Dreams.

An elderly man in ancient China is exiled from the Empire for a crime his son committed. The man finds a kitten along the way and brings it along. He dreams of his executed son, and walks into a Soft Place, where he meets Dream, and a later version of Dream. The old man learns that "everything changes, but nothing is truly lost".