Chapter 40
Kote is put on trial by the masters. He uses Heart of Stone to
calm himself and make a good case. Some of the masters are on his side, and
when it comes out that Hemme asked him to give the lecture and gave him one of
his hairs, the charges of unauthorized use of sympathy and malfeasance are
dropped. But he is still sentenced to a public whipping for reckless use of
sympathy. He proposes that the charges against him constitute proof that
he has mastered sympathy, so he should be admitted to the arcanum. This is
accepted by the masters. Word spreads around the school and he is a sort of
hero to the students.
A little drama here. We've already been told that he will be
expelled, so I wondered if it would come so soon. Luckily, Kote uses his wits
to get out of a sticky spot and will skip ahead to the arcanum, sparing him and
us the tedium of going through the basics of sympathy.
Chapter 41
Willem and Kote talk to pass the time before the whipping.
Willem shows him where the infirmary is. He explains how they will treat anyone
that needs help, but they will always need to pay in some way after. Kote has
Willem buy some nahlrout from an apothecary and takes it prior to the whipping.
Then he takes his whipping, careful to remove his shirt so it doesn't get
ruined.
Not sure if they had mentioned earlier what nahlrout does, if so
I didn't remember. There have been a couple of moments so far where Kote has
rubbed me the wrong way for being excessively arrogant or proud, and this is
one, where he refuses to have his hands bound.
Chapter 42
Kote goes to Master Arwyl to have his lashes treated. Arwyl
questions him and finds out he took nahlrout. Kote confesses he did it because
he didn't want to show weakness in front of the other boys. Arwyl is
sympathetic. Nola, one of Arwyl's students, stitches him up. Arwyl recruits
Kote to come study under him.
Best part of this scene was Arwyl critiquing Kote's stitch job
from Tarbean and Kote getting defensive. Arwyl proves to be pretty clever,
rather than the absent-minded professor he had appeared up to this point.
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