52. Bread and Butter

The group is summoned to breakfast by Fulvir’s panting, doggish steward. Galva and Yorbez are already eating when a portly Molrovan woman brings bread and butter. Fulvir locks eyes with Kinch and magically compels him to eat, punctuating it with a Molrovan saying about necessary cruelty, justifying his corvid experiments.

Fulvir announces new intelligence: a giant army has pushed out of Hrava across Oustrim and may pass close. He will move his household south immediately but will leave “gifts” to aid their mission. At his signal, three mediocre musicians—Bizh, Nazh, and Gorbol—enter and perform. Fulvir orders the party to take them, insisting they will regret it if they do not.

Ignored as Fulvir prepares to relocate, Kinch reflects that pressing Fulvir for truths—about Galtia or paternity—would be futile. Outside, they find corvids disemboweling Anni, Norrigal’s donkey. Norrigal breaks down; Kinch tries to draw on the birds, but Galva urgently stops him, and they retreat, leaving on foot.

As they exit the clearing, Fulvir’s hive-like house uproots on colossal roots and walks away, while the inert clay man lies bleeding into the rain. The small bear-faced mixling god Bolr shambles over, waves with tear-reddened eyes, and is plainly abandoned. Kinch’s resentment of Fulvir hardens as the musicians strike a sour tune; Galva threatens them into silence, and the party presses on toward their perilous mission.