7. The Skinny Woman’s Bride

Kinch hides in the attic of the Stag and Quiet Drum, drinking and brooding on giants as a drunken crowd belts a Galtish children’s song. The Ispanthian rider finds him, slaps him alert, and permits insults short of mentioning her mother. She finally offers a name: Galva.

They sit together, sparring verbally. Kinch probes her restraint during the earlier ambush; Galva neither boasts nor explains, letting him infer she maimed to slow pursuit. Talk turns to her war corvid—illegal in the north—where Galva reveals most corvids were executed by decree of King Kalith. She refuses details about hiding hers.

Galva discloses the corvid’s name, Dalgatha, meaning “Skinny Woman,” their death-goddess. She notes Kinch’s praise of her skill but contrasts it with horrors she has seen, naming the battle of Goltay and implying deep losses. The exchange underscores her discipline and grief.

Galva interrogates Kinch about the Takers’ Low School. He admits taking a Deed Note sending him west, likely Hrava in Oustrim. When pressed, he offers a sanctioned lie: he is to steal magical items. Galva states her own mission—to find a lost princess. Their goals point the same direction.

The pair test capabilities. Kinch demonstrates animal-sound mimicry and hints at minor magic; Galva admits to a little magic as well. Their banter—by turns wary and crude—establishes boundaries, mutual appraisal, and a tentative consideration of traveling together toward Oustrim.