Chapter 32

Galva drifts in and out of sleep to a young woman’s soothing chant, awakening in a dim, breezy room with wildflowers and the emblem of the Green Path. The limber chanter tests Galva’s awareness and explains they are in Goltay’s Hospital of Esselve (Selveya), a house that serves the lady of wood and garden, not Sath.

On waking again at night, Galva learns from the same sister—who calls herself Punch—that she has slept three days after taking a severe axe blow to the head. Punch says Galva’s helmet likely saved her life and that, though lingering effects are possible, she should mend if she avoids shocks and exertion.

Punch recounts how farmers witnessed Galva’s corvid-driven rout of goblins, and word has spread through the city. Many have sent flowers in gratitude; among them sits a single lavender rose marked with a small carved monkey, left by a visitor too influential to refuse despite her discretion.

Punch advises strict convalescence—moving slowly, lifting nothing, not fighting—and, more challengingly, abstaining from wine and meat for health and mercy to animals, in keeping with Esselve’s doctrine. Galva resists, quipping about fish and hens, while Punch explains the Green Path’s kinship with warm-blooded creatures.

The two contrast their deities: Galva’s “Skinny Woman” of death and war, and Esselve’s life-giving path. Punch hints at her order’s mysteries—youth lengthened for faithful servants—and closes with the credo of gentle longevity, leaving Galva stabilized but facing a sober, disciplined recovery.