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 85 - 87

Chapter 85

There is a disciplinary hearing for Kote and Ambrose. Kote argues successfully to have Ambrose pay him 20 talents for stealing and breaking his lute. The masters then vote unanimously for Kote to get 6 lashes and be expelled from the university.

Could his be the moment of Kote's expulsion? But he hasn't even learned to master calling he wind - seems doubtful he could do it again on purpose. At least he got some money to buy a new lute and pay Devi!

Chapter 86

Kote gets a reprieve! Elodin moves to repeal the expulsion and also promote Kote to the rank of Re'lar (which we learn means "speaker", as in speaking the names of things). This motion is passed by the masters, but no word on the lashes. Later Kote talks to Elodin, who tells him of the history of the university. Kote wonders how he was able to call the wind. Elodin is cryptic but explains that although he doesn't consciously know the name, his subconscious mind does. Elodin explains that it is often in anger, tapping into he subconscious, that a student is first able to call the name of something, and this is how it was with Elodin himself. So it's almost an expected thing, and not likely to result in expulsion. Despite being a Re'lar, Kote does not gain access to the Archives. Elodin also declines to tell him more about he four plated door in the archives. Elodin then goes on cryptically about naming, leaving Kote confused.

Phew! Kote is saved and on his way to being a great arcanist. Elodin is pretty opaque in discussing the power of names, so I was at least as confused as Kote. Luckily, it seems Elodin has taken a special interest so Kote will learn from the best.

Chapter 87

Kote reveals to his friends that despite having his expulsion sentence commuted, he will still get lashes. Later, he meets with Auri and convinces her to show him around the underground tunnels of the university. He finally reaches a room with some ancient-appearing machines. The chapter ends with an interruption mid-sentence.

The Underthing is described as massive, far bigger than I had been imagining, almost like an underground city. Makes you wonder how big the university was in the past and what had been going on there. You get the impression that it is now a pale shadow of what it once was, a very interesting thought.  Hopefully we will get to know more about these machines that are fascinating Kote.