Name of the Wind 88 - 90

Chapter 88

Back at the inn, the locals from the beginning of the book come into the tavern, interrupting the storytelling. Kote reverts back to tavern keeper form. The smith prentice also shows up, carrying an iron bar.  The locals start telling legends about Kote, but they all have different versions and distortions. Suddenly a man walks in, talking in a foreign tongue and not responding appropriately to questions. Chronicler recognizes him as one of the highwaymen who robbed him, and demands satisfaction. Bast tries to stop him, but too late. The man breaks chronicler's sword and attacks him. Bast slams the man's head onto the bar, but he shrugs it off and throws Bast across the room.  One of the locals attacks the man but is killed. The smith's prentice saves the day by killing the man with his iron bar. The official version is put out that the man was a deserter and drug addict who went crazy, but the prentice, Aaron, says to Kote he thinks it was actually a demon. Kote confirms it. 

Very interesting developments, what does it mean that a demon showed up, and was it looking for Kote? If so, why did it not seem to recognize him? We get clues that Kote isn't what he used to be - he either freezes up or just plain can't use sympathy when he tries to set the demon on fire. Bast obviously doesn't want to make a big deal about his and warns Chronicler not to mention it. It felt like Chronicler was more aggressive in confronting the highwayman than I expected him to be, did that seem out of character to other readers?

Chapter 89

Kote gets whipped, 6 lashes this time. He hints at having taken the same premedication, as he does not cry out or bleed again. Afterwards he goes to Imre and buys a new lute and a few goodies.

Hopefully he had the sense to pay of Devi with some of that money!

Chapter 90

Kote continues to explore the Underthing, finding a windy place that Auri calls Belows/Billows. This is what Kote was looking for. He crawls to a smaller opening to get to ... He doesn't tell us. Later he shows up at Fela's dorm in the middle of the night. He tells her to meet a friend of his by the 4 plate door in the archive the next day. When she does, it turns out to be Kote himself. He tries to get her to explain the filing system to him, but it's not as simple as all that. We learn that due to conflicting filing philosophies of multiple generations of librarians, the stacks are a confused mess.

Okay I'm sure I'm not the only one dying for him to put the pieces together of how he found the way into the archives. Any thoughts? I loved the discussion of the problems with the library organization, it has a very true to life feel. Not sure what we're supposed to make of Fela nearly naked inviting Kote into her room, but man did he dwell on it.

Name of the Wind 64- 66

Chapter 64

Kote stops by the Oaken Oar where Denna was staying, but finds that she left in the middle of the night without paying and was going under the name Dinnah. Kote submits his sympathy lamp to Kilvin. He got a little fancy, and made a few modifications to the design because he wanted to show off. He put a dimmer switch on it, which Kilvin appreciated, but he made it a bullseye lantern which Kilvin says is only used by thieves and low-lifes, and wouldn't be appropriate to be sold by the university. He approves Kote's graduation to journeyman but won't sell the lamp, so Kote is out the cost of the supplies. Kote asks to keep the lamp for himself, and by talking to Manet finds out there is a secret entrance to the archives. He resolves to go searching for it.

So Denna seems to be a shady character. Surprised that Kote was not a little more thrown by the fact that she left in the middle of the night without paying. When you think about it he has spent a lot of time talking to her but basically knows nothing about who she is. Alarm bells going off with Kote making plans to sneak into archives - you know he will eventually be expelled, will this be what causes it? Kind of a slap in the face to Lorren's authority, and seems ungrateful given what Lorren has done for him.

Chapter 65

Kote takes Wil and Sim out for drinks at the Eolian. Who should show up but Denna?  He excuses himself and goes off with her. He tells her he wishes he knew the words to make her fall in love with him and she replies that he already does. She also reveals that she does remember him from the caravan and had known it was him all along. They make plans to have lunch the following day. Back at the Eolian, Deoch tries to warn him off Denna, saying she will break his heart, but Kote laughs him off.

Somehow Denna admitting she remembers Kote doesn't really give us much more insight into her. She remains a cipher. If I were Kote I would have asked Deoch for some details but I guess Kote is not so curious.

Chapter 66

Kote goes to the Fishery to work on making some lamps with the bone tar, hoping to make money. While he is there, a leak develops in the bone tar container, and it starts to leak out, threatening to start a conflagration. Fela is trapped on her workspace by the bone tar. Kote uses sympathy to break open a large emergency tub of water, and jumps to rescue Fela. He wakes up later in the medica, and has missed his date with Denna. He walks over to Imre barefoot (lost his shoes in the excitement), but he's missed her. Back in his room, he over hears people in the tavern gossiping about him. He enjoys hearing people talk about him as a hero.

The bone tar comes into play! I'm looking forward to seeing this when it's made into a tv show, as I had a hard time picturing how the action was playing out in this scene. Kote is a hero, but a high personal cost: he missed his connection with Denna, lost the work he was counting on to make him some money, and lost his shoes and clothes. 

Name of the Wind 43 - 45

Chapter 43

Kote goes to the stacks and runs into Ambrose, who is putting the moves on Fela. Kote  embarrasses Ambrose in front of the girl by mocking his attempts at poetry. In retaliation, Ambrose dupes him, first by charging him a talent (all the money he has left) to access the stacks, then by giving him a candle to light his way (saying that sympathy lamps cost an additional talent). Kote of course gets caught and is banned for the stacks by Master Lorren. At the mess later, he learns that Ambrose is well connected, rich, and has a history of destroying those who cross him. Kote makes a veiled threat by quoting a dramatic piece about vengeance, which is overheard by many in the mess hall.

Am I he only one who thought of the bar scene in Good Will Hunting? Kote runs interference, allowing Fela to escape Ambrose creepy caresses. But due to the nahlrout hangover, he gets tricked and in trouble with Lorren again. One wonders how many chances he's going to get.

Chapter 44

Kote visits Master Kilvin's workshop and learns about his lamp projects. Later, over drinks, he learns from his friends that master Elodin went crazy at some point and was briefly locked up, but managed to escape. The group tries to determine which Master he should apprentice to. They end up suggesting Kilvin, but Kote seems interested in Master Elodin.

Kilvin seems an interesting character but it sounds like we might not see that much of him. Elodin may prove a lot more intriguing. And Sovoy gets a little more likable by buying everyone drinks.

Chapter 45

Back in the Tavern, Bast asks why he didn't go look for Skarpi. Kote responds, basically, there was no way he could save him. And as he was living his life, he didn't realize he was in a story, where his next step was to find help from an unlikely source.

Enjoyed the "meta" aspect of Kote discussing the elements of an epic adventure tale.