Last post, I made much ado about the quarreling in Buckkeep. Well, after all that pent-up anger, Fitz finally gets his outlets in these chapters. 

First, we have a good old-fashioned tavern brawl with Svanja’s father. Fitz tries to diffuse the situation without getting physical; then he takes a beer mug to his beautiful face and it’s on. 

Next up, things are taken up a notch when he overhears the Piebalds and Laudwine on the verge of killing Civil. Once again, Fitz is ready to walk away, but a panicked Dutiful Skills to him, begging him to do something, and Fitz unleashes his inner wolf. 

He takes an as-close-to-mortal-as-possible stab wound but manages to take out three men and Laudwine’s Wit-bonded horse, which Laudwine tried to possess after his death. 

Fitz never goes looking for a fight, but boy do the fights always find him. 

After the clash with Svanja’s father, the tension with Hap comes to a head. Fitz believes Hap is lost to him, sadly noting: “It felt like a mortal injury.” I was devastated, thinking perhaps he really was losing Hap. But as Fitz forlornly returns to the castle, Hap runs after him and says he’s trying. He tells Fitz he loves him, and my heart swelled. Fitz returns the words and tells Hap that he’s trying too, providing some much-needed hope for these two.

One more quick fight-related moment I loved: when Fitz goes to the practice courts to work out his frustrations after being told to “sit tight” re: the Laudwine situation, he trains vigorously with Wim, who tells him:

“When first we began to whet our blades on one another, I felt you were a fighter trying to recall what it was to be a fighter. Now you simply are. You’ve stepped back into your old skin, Tom Badgerlock. I can keep up with you, but only that.”

Attaboy, Fitz.

Pale Lady watch continues!

Reports from Chade’s spies among the Outislanders mention an overheard conversation about the Pale Lady. It is looking more and more like Narcheska Elliania is a sort of Trojan Horse to get the Pale Lady infiltrated within the Farseers.

More intrigue to Others Island!

Fitz gives Dutiful the figurine he collected on the Treasure Beach, and Dutiful is instantly freaked out that the figurine is a representation of a more mature Elliania. Fitz – whose assassin eye for detail I’m starting to question – basically goes, “huh, would you look at that, it does look like Elliania.” We are also reminded Fitz is still holding onto the feathers he found there. Wonder if they could have some significance to his magical bestie on the hunt for magical feathers? 🤔 Fitz notes:

“They were a vulnerability. They were a door to the unknown. When I picked them up, I had set something larger in motion. Something that was beyond anyone’s controlling.”

There’s also some musing on the overall weirdness of their time on the island, plus the “Someone great. Someone bigger than the sky,” Dutiful recalls pulling him and Fitz back from the brink of oblivion.

We learn that Chade’s new apprentice is Lady Rosemary.

Fitz and the Fool continue their cold war and, I gotta say, it really is agitating. One of the only things I’ve enjoyed from Chade lately is him telling them to stop being idiots and work it out. After Fitz learns the truth about Chade’s Skill experimentation (witnessed by the Fool), we get this exchange:

Fitz: “Have you ever suddenly realized that there was someone you loved, but presently did not like very much?”
The Fool: “Strange you should ask me that.”

Shit List check-in, part one:

I swear, I’m getting tired of bemoaning Chade every post too. But I have to react to what I’m given, and what I’m given is Chade being a massive knob constantly. In today’s edition of Why Chade Sucks, we learn that he’s been tapping into Thick’s Skill strength for his own physical restoration. Abhorrent. Fitz immediately points out the massive consent issue:

“‘You’ve been tapping into Thick’s strength,’ I accused him in a low voice.”
“He doesn’t mind.”
“You don’t know the dangers. He doesn’t know the risk.”

As Fitz continues calling out Chade’s recklessness, Chade gets more and more defensive, at one point snapping: “Listen to me, you whelp.” That about pushed me over the edge. How fucking dare you, Chade. The things this “whelp” has done at your beck and call. Just when I think I’m perhaps too hard on you (I never think that), you remind me what trash you really are.

Thankfully, Fitz is catching on too! He notes:

“Now, health-filled and bright-eyed, with ambition burning in him, he terrified me.”

And:

“I had begun to consider his decisions and even his thought processes from a man’s perspective. I was no longer willing to concede to him that he knew best in everything. And when I applied the perspective of my thirty-odd years to the decisions he had made for me and for the Farseers in the past, I was not sure that I agreed with them any longer.”

The blinders are off, and Fitz is clearly seeing that Chade is driven by ambition and hunger for power.

(Side note: After predicting Chade’s death last post, there was a fleeting moment where I thought he was going to sacrifice himself in saving Fitz – HA!)

Shit List check-in, part-two:

I don’t even have the energy to really get into the Starling interaction we get where she basically whines to Fitz that she’s worried her husband is stepping out (RICH!) and manipulates Fitz into comforting her and assuring her he still cares for her. Luckily, we know Fitz is just paying her lip service to keep her moving.

As Fitz offers some grace to Chade’s actions, reflecting that it must be hard to face death and see a chance to delay it, he admits:

“I dreaded the day that I would have to face such a decision, for I feared I would decide the same.”

Fitz- like one chapter ago you were fully ready to join Nighteyes in the great beyond and annoyed at the attempts to save you.

In saving Fitz, Dutiful’s coterie is formed: Prince Dutiful, Fitz, Chade, Thick, and the Fool. Fitz notes:

“Thus was Dutiful’s coterie formed, and it was as poor a way for any five folk to be joined as I could imagine.”

Me when Fitz goes into teacher mode in the tower:

Thick is a big part of this section. He begins his lessons with Fitz in earnest and is revealed as the spy the Piebalds have been using to gather information on Fitz and the Fool. Fitz’s deft handling and understanding of Thick continues to be beautifully done. As he works to build trust, he tells Dutiful:

“For when we are cared for by someone, or when we care for someone, that is the beginning of the bond.”

He takes the time to learn what’s meaningful to Thick, providing him with the simple pleasures and items of nostalgia he desires. He also cares for him physically with a bath, haircut, and mending his clothes.

Fitz treats Thick with dignity and understanding, and it’s just one more reason to love him.