The Name of the Wind

Kvothe steps into a business called The Broken Binding and sells the book to its owner for two talents. He also makes a deal to have the option to buy the book back for 20 days. The store owner tries to trick him, thinking the boy has stolen the book, but Kvothe proves he can read. The owner agrees that Kvothe can buy the book back within a few days.

Kvothe begins his transformation with a real breakfast and a bath. Then, he impersonates a noble’s son with stolen clothes, walks into a local clothing store nearby, and starts giving orders. He makes up a story about a whore who tried to trade his clothes for his purse, acts disdainful, and bargains the clothing store owner down in price.

Returning to the inn where he had breakfast, Kvothe thinks owning a place like that wouldn’t be such a bad life. Kvothe asks where he can find a caravan leaving for the north and tells the innkeeper he wouldn’t mind having a nice inn of his own when he grows up.

Back in Hillside, Kvothe steps into a shoe shop to escape a guard and walks out with a pair of brown walking shoes that belonged to the shopkeeper’s son. The shop owner notes that Kvothe has “old soles for a boy so young: scars, calluses” and says, “Feet like these could run barefoot all day on stone and not need shoes. A boy your age only gets these feet one way” (207).

The boy decides to go north to Imre with a wagoneer named Roent. He has two hours before the caravan leaves, so Kvothe enters Trapis’s basement again. The children do not recognize him and treat him suspiciously as a stranger. Trapis is there, caring for sick ones, and casually recognizes Kvothe, even in his new clothes. Then he asks Kvothe to go out on an errand. Kvothe says he doesn’t have time, tells him about his old hiding place, and says he’s leaving. Before the old man returns to his work, he says, “I’m always glad to see one of you get away” (211).

As Kvothe leaves Tarbean, “it was as if a great weight slowly fell away from [him]” (214). He keeps to himself, until the end of the first day when Denna, the beautiful female passenger, catches him staring at her. She asks what he’s thinking, and he says, “I was wondering what you’re doing here” (214). She calls him a liar. The next day, the two spend more time together, joking and telling stories. He tells her about the clouds while she shows him their shapes, and they go on watch together.

On the third day, they stop at an inn. They take a walk together and discover a pond with waystones at the edge. They climb onto the stone and see the stars reflected above and below them. They talk late into the night; he tells her the names of stars, and she tells stories about them. He wants to ask her something, but doesn’t: “What could I offer? Nothing. Anything I said would sound foolish, a child’s fantasy” (217). 

A man named Josn joins the wagon overnight and irritates Kvothe, who is jealous because the man spends all his time with Denna. That night, Josn pulls out a lute, and Kvothe asks to see it: “It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in three years” (219). Seeing the lute helps to heal him: “I felt the hard, unpleasant parts of myself that I had gained in Tarbean crack. Like a clay mold around a now-cool piece of iron they fell away, leaving something clean and hard behind” (220). He tunes it and begins to play. When he finishes, everyone is shocked and amazed.

The wagon arrives in Imre on the fourth day. Kvothe turns to leave and finds Denna standing behind him. She invites him to Anilin with her and Josn, but Kvothe has other things to do. Denna says he can look for her if things don’t work out in Imre, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to find her. She says, “I guess I’ll just have to come looking for you, then,” and adds, “Watch for me” (224).

In Imre, Kvothe first goes to the Archives, but he can’t enter until he’s admitted. Admissions doesn’t go on for much longer, so he hightails it to Hollows. The Chancellor wants a letter of introduction, and Kvothe asks if an inscribed book will do, even if he doesn’t have it. Kvothe must tell the nine masters what the letter of recommendation would say, and he lists some of his knowledge. He also urges the men to ignore his age, as he is 15. They ask him questions about math, conversions, geometry, anatomy, botany, and history.

Kvothe knows he needs to impress them to get in for the lowest amount of money, but the masters start to ask him difficult questions that he hasn’t heard them ask other students—such as how to make an ever-burning lamp. When he misses part of one question, he acknowledges he has something to learn, which is why he is there. Master Namer Elodin then asks in Siaru how well Kvothe speaks Siaru, how many fingers he’s holding up, and the seven words that will make a woman love you, which Kvothe says he doesn’t know. He also doesn’t know why he wishes to attend the University, when asked by the Chancellor: “I guess I’ll have to learn that too” (234)

Kvothe tells the masters he has no money and if they charge him admission over two jots, he can’t attend. However, if they admit him and give him three talents to live on, he will be “a student the likes of which you have never seen before.” Kvothe emphasizes, “I will do whatever it takes” (235).

The University agrees to admit him for the sum of “less three talents.” Kvothe feels leaden, thinking he cannot afford three talents. Master Lorren approaches him and asks about his father, but Kvothe’s anger makes him give a venomous response. Lorren hands him a piece of paper that says, “Kvothe. Spring term. Tuition: -3 Tln.” (237). Kvothe finally realizes what that means.