Chapter Seventeen: One-Sided Conversation[edit | edit source]

Ivin awakens disoriented in Choerkin Tower's constant Fire-lit limbo, pondering lost time between "death" and revival, haunted by blank memories and prophetic roles. Dreaming vividly, he relives a youthful encounter with Ar-Bdêins at Herald's Watch, overhearing Kotin's alliance with desperate Gier for longboats against rivals, planting betrayal seeds in nephew Lôdumâ. Awakening mid-conversation, Ivin confronts spectral Kotin and Lôdumâ, grasping manipulations. Vision shifts to Peneluple alive, evoking joy then anguish as she vanishes—revealing dream's cruelty. Collapsing in hysteria, Ivin despairs over sanity, pleading against madness amid absent tears and floating numbness, whispering denials of his fracturing mind.

SoM Chapter 16 — Swirling Wine and Mind
SoM Chapter 18 — Short Comfort
Shadows of Man — Main Chapter Listing