Contents
Chapter 137: Questions
Overview
Kvothe returns to Severen, learns of the Maer’s marriage, and that Caudicus has been captured and eliminated. After a courtly snub over propriety, Kvothe meets the Maer, who rebukes his being armed. Their talk uncovers systematic gaps in Amyr records, prompting the Maer to consider aiding Kvothe’s clandestine search.
Summary
Fearing legal consequences after killing the false troupers, Kvothe hurried back to Severen, anxious that rumor might outpace him. At the Maer’s estate he met Stapes, learned the Maer had married the Lackless heir, and heard Caudicus had been captured nearby and "properly" dealt with after killing guards and costing Dagon an eye. Kvothe sent the Maer’s recovered lockbox as a wedding gift.
Pressed to meet the Maer in the garden while filthy from travel, Kvothe asked for time to bathe, which earned him a day of pointed silence. Confined to his rooms awaiting summons, he dined with Bredon, trading gossip: the Maer’s besotted marriage, rumors of taxes reclaimed and bandits slain, a taproom tale of someone surviving Felurian, and news of Prince Regent Alaitis’s death in a duel. They played tak, and Bredon praised Kvothe’s improved, more beautiful game.
When the summons finally came, the Maer reprimanded Kvothe for wearing a sword and enforced propriety. Following their ritual of small talk, Alveron proposed that every person is driven by a central question. Kvothe offered his: where are the Amyr?
Alveron admitted a boyhood fascination and serious study of the Amyr, recalling that mendary and University records lacked concrete details—as if deliberately pruned. Kvothe confirmed the same gaps. Together they inferred the Amyr might have survived in secret, which unsettled the Maer within his own domain.
Kvothe requested the Maer’s patronage to access private archives and hidden records; Alveron, intrigued, agreed to discuss the matter further in private that evening and promised a question of his own in return.
Who Appears
- KvotheProtagonist; flees legal fallout, returns to Severen, gifts a lockbox, endures a courtly snub, and proposes searching for the hidden Amyr.
- Maer Alveron (Alveron)Newly married; enforces propriety, recalls Amyr studies and missing records, and agrees to private talks about aiding Kvothe’s search.
- StapesMaer’s manservant; welcomes Kvothe, reports Caudicus’s capture and grim handling, and conveys the Maer’s summons.
- BredonCourtier and tak mentor; shares court gossip, rumors of bandits and Felurian tales, and notes Kvothe’s improved play.
- CaudicusFormer court arcanist; found hiding near Severen, killed guards, captured after a fire, and subsequently ‘tended to’ offstage.
- DagonMaer’s captain; leads capture of Caudicus and loses an eye in the fight.