Reunion with Vetch

Ged, journeying alone and burdened by the doom of the shadow he loosed, arrived in the town of Ismay on the island of Iffish. He had been driven from port to port, unwelcome wherever he went, for the shadow had preceded him in his own likeness, spreading unease. Seeking shelter at an inn called The Harrekki, he learned that the town already had a wizard trained on Roke, a clear dismissal. Yet as he wandered the snowy streets, he heard a familiar voice and turned to see his old friend Vetch walking with a young girl. When Ged approached, Vetch, startled, raised his staff as a barrier, not recognizing the scarred and haggard figure before him. The moment of hesitation cut Ged deeply, but Vetch quickly lowered his staff, embraced him, and welcomed him, apologizing for his wariness. He explained that three days earlier he had seen a figure resembling Ged in the village of Quor, a presentment that vanished without a trace, making him suspect a trick. Ged, speaking softly, used Vetch's true name, Estarriol, to confirm his identity, and Vetch replied in the True Speech, acknowledging that Ged came from trouble and darkness, yet his coming was a joy.

A Home in Ismay

Vetch brought Ged to his home, a spacious and well-founded house in Ismay where he lived with his younger brother Murre and his sister Yarrow. The house was filled with homely wealth: pottery, fine weaving, vessels of bronze and brass, a great Taonian harp, and Yarrow's tapestry loom. There, Vetch was both a powerful wizard and a lord in his own domain, served by old servants and surrounded by peace. Ged, looking around the firelit room, sighed and said, "This is how a man should live." Vetch replied that it was one good way, but there were others. Over supper, Yarrow served the two friends, listening to their talk before slipping away. Later, alone by the stone firepit, Ged told Vetch the full tale of his years since they last spoke: the dragon of Pendor, the flight to Osskil, the temptation at the Court of the Terrenon, the gebbeth, the hawk-flight to Gont, and Ogion's counsel to turn and hunt the hunter. Vetch listened in silence, and when Ged finished, he said simply, "I'll go with you, Ged." Ged refused, insisting the quest was his alone, but Vetch argued that if the quest failed, someone should bear warning to the Archipelago, and if Ged succeeded, someone should tell the tale. Moved by this reasoning, Ged could not deny his friend, though he regretted having stayed in Ismay at all, knowing wizards do not meet by chance.

The Gift of True Names

Before Vetch left Roke years earlier, he had given Ged a gift of immense trust: his true name, Estarriol. Now, in the warmth of Vetch's home, Ged reciprocated, speaking his own true name, Ged, aloud. This exchange of true names, a bond deeper than any oath, sealed their friendship and their shared purpose. Vetch had also kept Ged's otak, Hoeg, during Ged's long illness, and though the creature had stayed with Vetch, it returned to Ged when Vetch set it down. The otak, a silent and fierce creature, had once led Ged back from the brink of death, and its presence was a comfort. As they talked late into the night, they discussed the nature of the shadow, its ability to take Ged's likeness, and the mystery of how it knew his name. Vetch warned Ged to beware meeting the shadow in gebbeth-form again, but Ged replied that the shadow was now bound to him as he was to it, and it could not possess another man as it had Skiorh. The only way to master it was to learn its name, a truth that Ogion affirmed and Gensher denied. Vetch, quoting the saying "Infinite are the arguments of mages," listened as Ged recounted the dragon Yevaud's offer to trade the shadow's name for his own, and the promise of the Terrenon stone. Though the conversation returned always to the grim matter ahead, their pleasure in being together overrode all.

Departure and Farewell

The next day, Vetch attended to his affairs in other villages, leaving Ged with Yarrow and Murre. Ged, watching Murre's carefree life with wonder and envy, felt himself lank and harsh by comparison, though Murre envied Ged's scars as the marks of a hero. Yarrow, losing her awe of Ged, asked him many questions about wizardry, and he answered gently, explaining the nature of illusion, the Equilibrium, and the power of light. When she asked about death, Ged spoke of silence before and after a word, but then fell silent himself, saying he had no right to speak of these things. He left the house and walked alone in the cold rain, burdened by his curse. Yarrow, watching him go, said to Murre that she thought the voyage led to his death, yet he went on. When Vetch returned, he took his leave of the notables of Ismay, who were unwilling to let him go on a mortal quest not his own. He reminded them that though he was their servant, he was not their servant, and that he would return when he was free. At daybreak, Ged and Vetch set sail from Ismay in Lookfar, raising a brown sail to the north wind. On the dock, Yarrow stood still in her grey cloak, watching them go, as sailors' wives and sisters stand on all the shores of Earthsea, dwindling smaller and smaller as the water grew wide between them.