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L and L close

7 ~ Unraveling  The secrets of House Lockless are hidden within two riddle rhymes and seven things will likely take many more pages to unlock. Some like the door are pretty easy, others like the rings are less so. The whole may be impossible to crack without a third book of clues to help us. Still, we can but try. To differentiate between the two songs more easily it is common practice to name the first chant the girls song and the second chant the boys song. In the girls song the focus is upon the Lady Perial Lockless herself and it tells us something we didn't know before in that she has acquired a husband since we last saw her. She was unmarried when she gave birth to Menda and so any marriage must have taken place after her firstborn son had left home and probably happened after Tehlu Day. This union should have made her husband the new Lord Lockless by default which really ought to have given him a half share in the running of the Lockless estates. That means that something l...
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Seven and Seven is

8 ~ Seven and Seven is… Apocalypse in 7/8 Have you ever noticed that the 7 things lines appear on NotW p. 77? Seven things has Lady Lockless Keeps them underneath her block dress One a ring that’s not for wearing One a sharp word not for swearing Right beside her husband’s candle There’s a door without a handle In a box, no lid or locks Lockless keeps her husband’s rocks There’s a secret she’s been keeping She’s been dreaming and not sleeping On a road that’s not for traveling Lockless likes her riddle raveling The Lockless box  The first thing to point out is that whoever wrote this song clearly purports to know the contents of the box. For that to be true then the author must have been present when this box was last seen open which I'm pretty sure will also be the same date on when if was first closed. With this box being described as the root of the family name that makes this an equally ancient song and it must then be written about the original founding members of that house m...
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The Chandlery

The Chandlery Fork Handles Candles are a recurring theme in these books, not just common candles such as Kvothe is caught with in the archives, but important candles such as the one Auri makes especially for him. The Mauthern pot links Haliax to candles, the Lackless rhyme features them and the Adem may have a surprising addition to the list too. Auri makes a special candle for Kvothe in the slow regard of silent things and we get to see the whole process…well, sort of, and so that is where we shall begin our circtangular investigation into the the lost art of chandlery. Her ingredients are interesting since two kinds of wax are used, both beeswax from honeycomb and the wax obtained from Laurel fruit. This is important because bees are obviously not plants and the formulae and factoring needed to mix and meld these fundamentally different things together properly, not forgetting the importance of including the dreams of lavender, all together into something that would suit Kvothe’s uni...
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Lords and Ladies

1 ~ Kings & Queens  Our next step is to examine what we know of the world outside today.  Chronicler has an appointment with the Earl of Baeden-Bryt at his estates in Treya which is a days ride or about 30 miles away. The Earl is Newarre's local noble and he was granted his title by his king. Aaron is also off to Treya where he is considering 'fighting for his king and his country.' He expects the kings representative there to pay him a whole gold royal for enlisting with the penitent kings army and a royal is a Vintish coin. QED Newarre's king is a Vintish king. The two army deserters we encounter have just been through this process , they have their vintish gold coins and are now sporting the Vintish kings colours of blue and white. Now these are good enough colouring words for the decking out of common foot soldiers but if you were at the other end of the army, up with the top brass, you would wear a much finer uniform that is technically a different colour. The ...
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