27. A Blarghing in the Bone Palace

Kinch, with Princess Renata and the royal family, joins the mass procession from the Halfmoon to the Bone Palace. Cloud-ships bombard the crowd first with fiery petals, then with printed leaflets—game schedules—introducing Kinch to uniform printed letters. Renata delights in the spectacle; Kinch pretends illiteracy.

At the Bone Palace, Kinch marvels at its exterior built with mortared skeletons and a towering golden skeleton of Thumos with his fire-dog, Magmas. Renata exults in Thumos’s destructive power, and, carried playfully by Renata, Kinch enters as paper still rains.

Inside, Kinch sits with the royals beneath orange canopies while most spectators crowd stone seats. He notes monumental stone hands framing the eastern opening, their purpose unclear yet. The Lunar Games begin as a citywide holiday of excess.

Lavish feasts roll out for the elite. Kinch is horrified by a “sauce-cart” used to purge food mid-banquet so revelers can gorge again. His disgust hardens his contempt for Erydon’s culture and god, whom he mocks as a “blarghing.”

When the games turn bloody, Kinch watches a true giant battle a bull elephant; the elephant crushes the giant against the wall, and attendants rake black sand clear of gore. King Agraias, drunk and weepy yet friendly, speaks Arvisk and sympathizes with the wounded elephant, while Kinch plays along.

Queen Neffa, also speaking Arvisk, warns the king he’ll miss moonrise if he keeps drinking. A discreet steward fixes the king’s wig and removes a frog leg from his beard. Then King Agraias consults a leaflet and announces the “expensive fighter-girl” he bought—Galva—is up next, setting the stage for her bout.