56 pages • 1-hour read
The Teller of Small Fortunes
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Chapter 17-Epilogue SummaryChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.
Tao awakens in a featherbed in the Guildtower, surprised to find Mash, Silt, and Kina at her bedside. They explain that they attempted to rescue her but were caught, and then High Mage Melea brought them to her after she learned they were Tao’s friends. The reunion is emotional, with Tao crying when Kina gives her a cinnamon bun she baked for her, seeing it as a tangible reminder that her friends came for her despite the dangers. Mash is deeply moved upon learning that Tao extracted a promise from the Guild to search for his daughter Leah throughout the kingdom.
High Mage Melea visits and confirms that Tao’s vision about Shinara experiencing civil war rather than invading Eshtera has been useful to the Crown. She addresses their questions about Master Jacopo, revealing he’s a scheming Guild member who acted independently when sending them on the phoenix quest, likely to eliminate competition or gain a valuable artifact. After recovering, Tao negotiates additional compensation for her services beyond the standard 500 silver reward. These include horses for Mash and Silt, and a new gnomish oven for Kina. Tao also makes a request that her mother receive a magic mirror she can use to look into Shinara, so she can be less homesick. As they leave the city, Tao’s heart is full despite not knowing if her final request for the mirror was granted.
Chapter 18 Summary
The group travels west from Margrave, with Tao constantly scanning for messengers who might bring news of Leah. During their journey, they discuss their futures at an inn called The Lucky Jester, with Kina expressing ambivalence about returning permanently to Shellport. Tao offers to read Silt’s fortune, but he initially refuses, fearing what Tao might see, but two nights later in Ash-on-Loross, he changes his mind. Tao reads his tea leaves and sees him returning a stolen necklace rather than keeping it, indicating his path toward redemption. Silt is delighted, and he joyfully pulls Kina up to dance with him. As Tao observes the two of them whirling around the fire, she sees that Kina looks at Silt with affection and is happy that her two friends seem to be on the brink of a romance.
While staying in Ash-on-Loross, the group discovers that Fidelitus is actually female and has given birth to six kittens in the inn’s stable. When examining the litter, Tao recognizes one particular tabby with a bent ear as the kitten from her vision of Mash reuniting with Leah. This confirms they’re close to finding his daughter, and Mash is overwhelmed with emotion. The group decides to remain in town, setting up their businesses while waiting for news of Leah. During the spring fair, a woman brings a small yellow-haired girl to Tao’s tent. The chapter ends as Tao realizes this girl is Leah—she looks exactly as she appeared in Tao’s vision.
Chapter 19 Summary
Mash and his daughter Leah have an emotional reunion. The girl recognizes her father despite his newly grown beard. The seamstress who brought Leah into Tao’s tent explains that the child accidentally stowed away on a trade boat and fell asleep. She was found far from home with only vague memories of where she lived. After months without anyone claiming her, the seamstress took her in. Silt informs the woman she’ll receive a reward from the Guild for helping find Leah. Tao presents Leah with the bent-eared tabby kitten, which the girl immediately names “Bloodhair,” who is a pirate in a bedtime story Mash told her. This fulfills Tao’s vision.
The group travels to Mash’s farm near Windmere where they witness a joyful reunion between Anna, Mash, and Leah. During dinner, when Silt mentions that their adventures will likely end now, with everyone going their separate ways, Leah protests, wanting to continue having adventures. To everyone’s surprise, Anna agrees, expressing her desire to see the world after months of waiting at home. Mash says they’ll need another wagon for their family and sets about acquiring one.
The next week is spent preparing for life on the road, with Mash and Silt purchasing a third wagon painted with “FEATS OF STRENGTH AND LEGERDEMAIN” (311) on the side. The two of them plan to put on shows on the road that will showcase Mash’s physical prowess and Silt’s sleight of hand. As their three-wagon caravan sets off, a messenger catches up to them and delivers a letter from Tao’s mother. She writes that the Guild delivered the magic mirror Tao requested. Her mother expresses her love and gratitude, inviting Tao to visit. Surrounded by her found family and reconciled with her mother, Tao weeps with joy.
Epilogue Summary
In the White Palace of Margrave, Queen Lisbet and High Mage Melea confront skeptical ministers who question the reliability of a seer of Shinn descent. Melea defends Tao’s abilities and loyalty to Eshtera, while Queen Lisbet orders the repeal of war preparations and the standing down of auxiliary garrisons. She orders her ministers to secretly send supplies to the rebels in Shinara to ensure the emperor remains distracted by internal issues. She also announces a budget surplus that the ministers can propose how to allocate, effectively ending their arguments by appealing to their self-interest.
The action then shifts to Craghorn, where Jian, an aging Shinn shopkeeper struggling with discrimination, receives a large order from the Guild for expedition equipment. The soldiers inform him that a seer told the high mage their expedition would have the best luck if they purchased from his store, ensuring his business’s survival. Finally, at a riverside nunnery in the west, Sister Gravel, the troll from the bridge, assists the nuns with physically taxing tasks. Though they reward her with barrels of mead she doesn’t enjoy, she’s found purpose and happiness despite her mage-curse, reflecting on Kina’s advice that one can choose to be nothing or choose to be happy.
Chapter 17-Epilogue Analysis
The resolution of Tao’s relationship with the Guild of Mages illuminates the theme of Navigating Identity Amid Prejudice and Expectation. When the High Mage bestows citizenship on Tao, officially recognizing her as “a true and loyal Eshteran” (281), it represents not merely legal status but an acknowledgment of her complex bicultural identity. Significantly, this recognition comes through a writ bearing the royal seal, which is a tangible embodiment of acceptance from the kingdom that has long viewed her with suspicion. However, Tao is “not sure quite how to feel about that” (281). Her ambivalence toward this designation reflects that official recognition cannot erase a lifetime of marginalization. She goes on to negotiate for additional compensation, including the magic mirror that shows visions of Shinara for her mother, demonstrating her agency in reconciling both sides of her heritage rather than being forced to choose between them.
The fulfillment of Tao’s vision regarding Mash’s daughter and the kitten offers insight into the theme of The Weight of Foreknowledge. When she discovers the tabby kitten with the bent ear, Tao immediately recognizes it as the kitten from her vision of Mash reuniting with Leah, confirming the imminent completion of her prophecy. This moment transforms abstract fortune-telling into concrete reality, proving that Tao’s visions genuinely reveal future events. However, the novel complicates simple notions of predestination through Leah’s assertion that “I’ll just do what I want, and what Da says, and make my own future” (303-04). This tension between foreknowledge and free will suggests that destiny provides a framework within which individuals still exercise choice. For instance, Tao saw the endpoint of Mash and Leah’s reunion but not the journey required to reach it, which demanded conscious action from all involved.
The cinnamon bun that triggers Tao’s emotional breakdown in the Guildtower develops the food and baked goods motif that symbolizes connection and camaraderie. Upon waking, Tao’s first sensory experience is “the smell of cinnamon and sugar” (274), which becomes tangible proof that her friends have risked themselves for her. Moved by their gesture, Tao “burst[s] into great, uncontrollable sobs” (276), and Kina holds her while she weeps, moved to tears herself. This scene highlights how food transcends mere nourishment to become a language of care. The motif of food reaches its culmination in Anna’s stew, which Tao observes is “far more like the meals of her childhood” in Shinara (306). This confirms that she has found authentic belonging among her chosen family that resembles what she lost.
The three wagons that form the caravan’s final configuration symbolically represent the completion of each character’s developmental arc. Tao’s fortune-telling wagon, now supplemented with citizenship papers, represents her acceptance of her gift and her dual identity. Kina’s wagon, emblazoned with “KINA’S FINE BAKED GOODS” (312) and equipped with a “gnomish oven,” manifests her professional transformation from struggling apprentice to confident baker. The newest addition—“FEATS OF STRENGTH AND LEGERDEMAIN” (311)—embodies Silt’s redemptive journey from thief to entertainer and Mash’s evolution from solitary mercenary to performer and family man. This caravan of unlikely companions transforms from a temporary arrangement into a permanent but unconventional home for this group of friends, underscoring the novel’s theme of Finding a Sense of Home in Relationships.
The emotional culmination of these chapters arrives through the parallel resolutions of two severed relationships—Mash with Leah and Tao with her mother—illustrating how the novel’s journey plot facilitates both literal and emotional homecomings. Mash’s reunion with Leah fulfills the narrative’s most obvious quest, but Tao’s reconciliation with her mother also provides a deep emotional resolution. When Tao reads her mother’s letter declaring that she loves Tao, it heals the wound that initiated Tao’s isolation. Her mother writes that she can show Tao “different ways to wear [her] ji” (314), suggesting that Tao can now fully integrate her Shinn heritage with her Eshteran present. As the caravan continues moving forward rather than settling in one place, the novel enforces its message that home is found among loved ones rather than in a physical location.
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