More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
April 8 - April 28, 2025
I had refused to play for Wilem and Simmon while I was out of practice. Their opinions were nearly as important as those at the Eolian.
So I picked a name for her, Auri. Though in my heart I thought of her as my little moon-fey.
“There’s something about him I like. He’s a little fae around the edges.
And we sang! Her voice like burning silver, my voice an echoing answer.
“I think you might be wiser than you give yourself credit for.” “Well,” he said, trying not to look pleased. “Well, don’t let it get around or people will start expecting great things from me.”
“What of you? I owe you a great favor—how can I repay it? Ask anything and it is yours, should it be within my skill.” “Anything within your skill,” she repeated playfully. “What can you do then, besides play so well that Tehlu and his angels would weep to hear?” “I imagine I could do anything,” I said easily. “If you would ask it of me.” She laughed.
Top tier flirting and right in frobt of her mans? Kvothe i need you
The three boys, one dark, one light, and one—for lack of a better word—fiery, do not notice the night. Perhaps some part of them does, but they are young, and drunk, and busy knowing deep in their hearts that they will never grow old or die. They also know that they are friends, and they share a certain love that will never leave them. The boys know many other things, but none of them seem as important as this. Perhaps they are right.
“Fear is plenty practical,”
She looked at me. Looked away. “You think too much of me.” I smiled. “Perhaps you think too little of yourself.”
I lifted my hands as if fending off a blow. “Cease these sweet words,” I protested. “You seek to bend me to your will, but it will not work. Your flattery is naught to me but wind!” She watched me for a moment, as if to make sure my tirade was complete. “Beyond all other trees,” she said with a curl of a smile on her elegant mouth, “the willow moves to the wind’s desire.”
I should have been bolder and kissed her at the end. I should have been more cautious. I had talked too much. I had said too little.
“Don’t go quiet on my account, Kvothe,” she said gently. “I’d miss the sound of your voice.”
We talked through the long hours of night. I spoke subtle circles around the way I felt, not wanting to be overbold. I thought she might be doing the same, but I could never be sure. It was like we were doing one of those elaborate Modegan court dances, where the partners stand scant inches apart, but—if they are skilled—never touch. Such was our conversation. But not only were we lacking touch to guide us, it was as if we were also strangely deaf. So we danced very carefully, unsure what music the other was listening to, unsure, perhaps, if the other was dancing at all.
“But Dianne . . . Dianne is like a waterfall of spark pouring off a sharp iron edge that God is holding to the grindstone. You can’t help but look, can’t help but want it. You might even put your hand to it for a second. But you can’t hold it. She’ll break your heart. . . .” The evening was too fresh in my memory for me to pay much heed to Deoch’s warning. I smiled, “Deoch, my heart is made of stronger stuff than glass. When she strikes she’ll find it strong as iron-bound brass, or gold and adamant together mixed. Don’t think I am unaware, some startled deer to stand transfixed by hunter’s
...more
But even better than that was the fact that my days of fruitlessly searching for Denna were at an end. Tomorrow at noon in the Eolian: “lunch and talking and walking” as she had phrased it. The thought filled me with a giddy excitement. How young I was. How foolish. How wise.
I was used to people talking about me. As I’ve said, I had been actively building a reputation for myself. But this was different; this was real. People were already embroidering the details and confusing parts, but the heart of the story was still there. I had saved Fela, rushed into the fire and carried her to safety. Just like Prince Gallant out of some storybook. It was my first taste of being a hero. I found it quite to my liking.
“Let the others tell whatever stories they wish, but between us let us share secrets.”
I TRUDGED THROUGH THE next day barefoot, cloakless, and thinking grim thoughts about my life.
“Why, this is lovely, Kvothe. What lives in the salt?” Trace minerals, I thought. Chromium, bassal, malium, iodine . . . everything your body needs but probably can’t get from apples and bread and whatever you manage to scrounge up when I can’t find you. “The dreams of fish,” I said. “And sailor’s songs.”
“Nothing makes a man feel older than a young woman.”
“Beer dulls a memory, brand sets it burning, but wine is the best for a sore heart’s yearning.”
There is a sort of camaraderie that rarely exists except between men who have fought the same enemies and known the same women.
Lovely as the moon: not flawless, perhaps, but perfect.
Kvothe looked back and forth between them, then sighed. “There are few things as nauseating as pure obedience,” he said. “Both of you would do well to remember that.” He gestured for Chronicler to pick his pen up again. “Very well. . . . It was a dragon.”
Amazing chapter
I sat there in the dark, holding her sleeping body in my arms. She was soft and warm, indescribably precious. I had never held a woman before. After a few moments my back began to ache with the pressure of supporting her weight and my own. My leg started to go numb. Her hair tickled my nose. Still, I didn’t move for fear of ruining this, the most wonderful moment of my life.
I had a dragon to kill.
“You mouthy little swaggercock.
My mood was not a pleasant one. My thoughts were not gentle or kind.
Over the last month I had pulled a woman from a blazing inferno. I had called fire and lightning down on assassins and escaped to safety. I had even killed something that could have been either a dragon or a demon, depending on your point of view. But there in that room was the first time I actually felt like any sort of hero. If you are looking for a reason for the man I would eventually become, if you are looking for a beginning, look there.
Despite the fact that I’d been searching out her face in every shadow and carriage window for days, the sight of her stunned me.
“Oh it’s just the same thing you’ve heard before a hundred times before,”
Double before editting error?
“Sim,” I said, exasperated. “If she was interested I’d be able to find her more than once in a month of searching.” “That’s a logical fallacy,” Sim pointed out eagerly. “False cause. All that proves is that you’re lousy at finding her, or that she’s hard to find. Not that she’s not interested.”
“You know I’m right!” Simmon pushed his hair out of his eyes, laughing boyishly. “You can’t argue your way out of this one! She’s obviously stupid for you. And you’re just plain stupid, so it’s a great match.”
“Try to put the words all in a tidy row.”
“It is a word. Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts. There are seven words that will make a person love you. There are ten words that will break a strong man’s will. But a word is nothing but a painting of a fire. A name is the fire itself.”
Does Denna know names?
“I love you, Sim,” I said earnestly. “Sometimes I think you’re the only honest person I know.”
“I brought you a ring.” It was made of warm, smooth wood. “What does it do?” I asked. “It keeps secrets,” she said. I held it to my ear. Auri shook her head seriously, her hair swirling around her. “It doesn’t tell them, it keeps them.” She stepped close to me and took the ring, sliding it onto my finger. “It’s quite enough to have a secret,” she chided me gently. “Anything more would be greedy.” “It fits,” I said, somewhat surprised. “They’re your secrets,” she said, as if explaining something to a child. “Who else would it fit?”
We shared most of the meal in silence, simply enjoying each other’s company.
Wisdom precludes boldness.”
“Auri,” I asked slowly, “are you joking with me?” She looked up and grinned. “Yes, I am,” she said proudly. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Underneath the University, I found what I had wanted most, yet it was not what I expected.” He motioned for Chronicler to pick up his pen. “As is often the case when you gain your heart’s desire.”
Do you know how much good it does you to chase a wild thing? None. It works against you.
“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
