Narrow Road Between Desires

The Narrow Road Between Desires follows Bast, the fae companion of Kvothe, through a single day in the village of Newarre. At the Lightning Tree, local children bring Bast their troubles, questions, and small hurts, and he trades help for secrets, favors, and odd jobs — his usual game of small bargains.

As the day unfolds, the story moves past Bast's mischief toward something warmer: a boy named Rike, dealing with an abusive father, becomes the focus of a more serious act of care. Rothfuss uses the day's episodic structure to widen what readers know of Bast beyond his role as comic relief in the main novels.

This expanded edition, illustrated throughout by Nate Taylor, builds on the earlier novella "The Lightning Tree," first published in the anthology Rogues, with new and extended scenes.