The Name of the Wind

Kvothe returns to the empty Fishery to see if he might be able to salvage his emitters or his cloak. The workshop is fine, except for the destroyed northeast corner. He finishes the emitters, then talks to Kilvin. They discuss their injuries and what happened with the bone-tar canister.

In response to Kvothe’s question about how he got the fire under control, Kilvin repeats one of the tall tales that he’s heard about himself, then asks Kvothe how he made it through the fire. Kvothe also repeats one of the tall tales he’s heard about his own actions. Then he tells the master what really happened.

Kilvin explains how he brought the fire under control. He had been prepared for an accident, keeping a vial of the reagent in his office. He used it as a link to draw heat from the spill. Kvothe, knowing how difficult it would be to draw so much heat away, is speechless at the idea of the feat his master has performed. He wants to know how it happened, and Kilvin responds, “Quickly […] but not easily” (458).Kvothe returns to the empty Fishery to see if he might be able to salvage his emitters or his cloak. The workshop is fine, except for the destroyed northeast corner. He finishes the emitters, then talks to Kilvin. They discuss their injuries and what happened with the bone-tar canister.

In response to Kvothe’s question about how he got the fire under control, Kilvin repeats one of the tall tales that he’s heard about himself, then asks Kvothe how he made it through the fire. Kvothe also repeats one of the tall tales he’s heard about his own actions. Then he tells the master what really happened.

Kilvin explains how he brought the fire under control. He had been prepared for an accident, keeping a vial of the reagent in his office. He used it as a link to draw heat from the spill. Kvothe, knowing how difficult it would be to draw so much heat away, is speechless at the idea of the feat his master has performed. He wants to know how it happened, and Kilvin responds, “Quickly […] but not easily” (458).

Kvothe, who has lost valuable clothing in the fire, is bitter. He is close to financial disaster as a result, even after selling the emitters he made. He goes to the Eolian, where Deoch tells him someone is waiting for him—but that someone is Fela, who wants to thank him for saving her. She provides him with a gift: a new cloak.

Fela helps him put it on and remarks on how it matches his eyes. In the background, he sees Denna exiting the Eolian. He thanks Fela, who offers him a favor, “anything I can do for you” (463). They chat, and Kvothe learns she’s been working with Elodin. He wishes Denna would return.

Later, he realizes that the bone-tar, having gone down the gates, might have affected Auri. Running toward the Medica, he meets healer Mola halfway there and enlists her help instead. He takes Mola to the roof of Mains; she is suspicious but follows him. Auri appears, and he introduces them. Later, Mola asks Kvothe why he hasn’t told anyone about the girl. He says she’s happy where she is, and that “they’d crock her and you know it” (468).

At the Eolian, Deoch tells him that he’s been keeping an eye out for the girl, of whom he is also fond. They have a drink together, and Deoch tells Kvothe what he knows of Denna, but like Kvothe, he has trouble describing her in words.

On his way back to the University, two professionals attack Kvothe. He uses sympathy to save himself and to scare the two men away, but he is unable to locate the dowsing compass that the men have surely used to find him, with the help of his blood.

As he returns, he finds a note from Denna in the window entrance to his room. First, he takes measures to protect himself from the dowsing compass and goes to the courtyard where the wind moves oddly. Elodin is there, too. He tells Kvothe the courtyard was formerly the Quoyan Hayel, then the Questioning Hall, but is aptly named the “House of the Wind.”

Back in his room, Kvothe cleans his cut and realizes that the men who came after him have his blood on the knife, which would more effective for dowsing than hair. Kvothe takes additional steps, including dropping his blood-stained shirt into the nearby river. He does this with the hopes that anyone dowsing for his blood will think he is running south.

Kvothe wakes up at an inn near Imre’s docks and realizes he wasn’t thinking clearly the previous night. He goes down for some breakfast and to think through his plight, and while he does, he hears some men talking about a wedding party decimated by blue fire—the sign of the Chandrian. He flubs up his attempt to get more information, but he knows enough: The Chandrian were close.

He knows he needs to get to Trebon, so he asks the innkeeper about the distance. Trebon is about 70 miles away, and he will need money. He goes to Devi, who has heard rumors of his attack and helps clean his injury. She agrees to spread some rumors on his behalf, and they work out a deal so that he can get money to buy a horse. The deal includes, Kvothe says, access to the Archives once he figures out how to get in.