Chapter 35: Secrets

On his way to the Fishery, Kvothe is approached by a hooded girl who furtively signals him to follow. In a secluded alley she reveals herself as Nina from Trebon, anxious yet excited. She credits the amulet Kvothe gave her with stopping her nightmares and explains she has had a recurring, peaceful dream of the Trebon vase.

Nina produces a horn case and a vellum drawing she made from her dream. She insists there were eight figures on the original pot. Unrolling the sheet, Kvothe recognizes Cinder standing on water with winter imagery; then Haliax, cloaked in shadow beneath three moons and dimmed flame; and finally a grim armored figure with a flaming-tower sigil and a bloodied, upraised hand rebuking the others—an Amyr of the Ciridae.

Nina explains the difficulties of painting from memory and admits she cut and scraped pages from the Book of the Path to hide the drawing under holy names, believing it safer from demons. As the bells ring, she rushes off, and Kvothe invites her to find him at Anker’s if she dreams more.

Left alone, Kvothe reflects: the Archives hold only tales on the Chandrian, yet the Amyr are well-documented as Church-founded knights later disbanded. The ancient vase predates the Church, but still shows an Amyr opposing the Chandrian, and Haliax once named the Amyr among threats. Kvothe concludes the Amyr–Chandrian history is older and more complex than recorded.