Chapter 12
- Open on the city of Freyborg, where a really old house sits on Strawmarket Street. At the very top is a teeny-tiny room occupied by a dude named De Roth—or, as we know him, Theo. He's moonlighting as a public letter writer under a new name, and he owes his new job to some dude named Florian. Now, let's find out who that fellow is.
- When we last saw Theo, he was slugging it through fields. He tried to keep his friends out of his mind, which only worked for so long. He misses Mickle most (all together now: aw…).
- Finally Theo winds up in Freyborg, which used to be a great university town, but is now nothing fancy. He heads into a tavern, hoping to find some food in exchange or work, but he becomes mesmerized by the soup sitting in front of a guy, who's a part of a group of about half-a-dozen young people.
- He meets an intriguing crowd, which is seemingly led by a guy named Florian. His new friends include the poet Stock, the violent Justin, and Rina and Zara. Stock feeds him, at Florian's command, but Theo speaks up when Florian—ironically—toasts to Cabbarus. Florian lets Theo in on a secret, though: They all dislike Cabbarus, and intelligence, once cultivated at the royal university in Freyborg, has fallen to the wayside under Cabbarus's supervision.
- After Florian asks him, Theo spills his whole story, then introduces himself as "De Roth." Zara leads him to Strawmarket Street, where he will stay—when he confesses he can't pay rent, Zara says Florian will vouch for him. Excellent.