[kauldron26]

well u dont think fitz loved the fool like that. i think it was more than plumbing. he loved him the way he loved nighteyes, but different. isnt the love of friendship fundamentally different than the love for a partner? didnt he say in the ending how the fool was his greatest/closest friend? they might have well been brothers, it wasnt about the plumbing, it was about perception of love.

I think that when the Fool last visited Chade, he was on his way south, back to their schooling place to bring home all they had learned. I doubt he will come back this way again.

Ours was a ragged and uneven parting. Each of us had intended to see the other again. Each of us had had final words to say. My days with the Fool ended like a half-played game of Stones, the outcome poised and uncertain, possibilities hovering. Sometimes it seemed to me a cruelty that so much was unresolved between us;

I miss him often, but in the same way that I miss Nighteyes. I know that such a one will not come again. I count myself fortunate for what I had of them. I do not think I will ever Wit-bond again, or know such a friendship as I had with the Fool. I have Molly and she is enough for me, and more.

I am content.