Fool's Errand

Title: Fool's Errand
Author: Robin Hobb
Published: 2001 by Voyager
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 661


And on with the next trilogy! These three are collectively called the Tawny Man books, and the story has hopped from Bingtown, liveships and pirates back to the Six Duchies. Fifteen years have passed since the end of the Assassin's Quest, and Fitz has spent about half of those wandering the world with his Wit-partner, the wolf Nighteyes, and the other half staying put and living life on the quiet, raising an adopted son. 

But when one person from your past knows where you live, another will find out, and soon people from Fitz's past come knocking so much that he might as well install a revolving door. The youngest member of the royal Farseer family goes missing mere days before his highly political and very important betrothal, and our hero finds himself dragged back in to court intrigue to help find him.

During Fitz's self-exile many things have changed in the big world, including the persecution of people who have the Wit, an ancient magic that allows them to converse and bond with animals. It wasn't really looked kindly upon during the days of the Farseer Trilogy, but now people are being hung, quartered, burned and so forth for having the Wit. And all of the Witted will not stand for that kind of nonsense. Things are heating up!


   I drew a breath and made my question as plain as possible. 'What is your name, your real name?'
   'Ah.' His manner was suddenly grave. He took a slow breath. 'My name. As in what my mother called me at my birth?'
   'Yes.' And then I held my breath. He spoke seldom of his childhood. I suddenly realized the immensity of what I had asked him. It was the old naming magic: if I know how you are truly named, I have power over you. If I tell you my name, I grant you that power. Like all direct questions I had ever asked the Fool, I both dreaded and longed for the answer. 
   'And if I tell you, you would call me by that name?' His inflection told me to weigh my answer. 
   That gave me pause. His name was his, and not for me to bandy about. But, 'In private, only. And only if you wished me to,' I offered solemnly. I considered the words as binding as a vow.
   'Ah.' He turned to face me. His face lit with delight. 'Oh, but I would,' he assured me.
   'Then?' I asked again. I was suddenly uneasy, certain that somehow he had bested me yet again.
   'The name my mother gave me, I give now to you, to call me by in private.' He took a breath and turned back to the fire. He closed his eyes again but his grin grew even wider. 'Beloved. She called me only "Beloved".'
   'Fool!' I protested.