Pages 98 – 198, this section really picks up steam and gets to the heart of the story.
Earlier in the book, when Hanck’s mother dies, her last words are “He will be a chef!” She utters this before Hanck even met Toby’s mother.
Toby is described as sensitive and builds imaginary worlds, happily playing alone. As he grows, he begins to show talent in the kitchen and takes over the cooking duties. As he approaches adulthood, his skills become honed enough that he begins to work as a chef in higher end restaurants, from which he brings left over food and wine to share with his father.
Once a year, The Clan holds an enormous dinner party on one of the islands of the archipelago. Toby leaves home and begins working at the inn which hosts this party and becomes a chef of great acclaim.
Hanck is again visited by two men dressed in lavender. These communicators tell him that his son has died, at the age of 20. As he progresses through the stages of grieving, Hanck wanders the pleasure district in search of something to dull his ache.
Finally, Hanck decides to confront the people who killed his son, and gets a ticket on the ferry which takes him to the inn on the farthest island in the archipelago.
One of the nine sisters who manage the inn arranges to meet Hanck in the library and tells him the story of Toby’s (known as Fimafeng to those he worked with) death. Bora tells Hanck that Loki killed Toby because he sneezed. That Toby didn’t have the sense to cover his face, or excuse himself after he sneezed. He stood with a beatific grin on his face and Loki took offense and killed Toby.
Remember Toby’s mother was from the sect called The Sneezers, which explains the beatific look. As Bora continues the tale, it becomes clear Loki was spoiling for a fight, his ego couldn’t handle all the other gods heaping praise on Fimafeng.
Now comes the retelling of the Norse story of Lokasenna. The Clan is the clan of Norse gods who meet once a year for an all out bacchanalia (to mix mythic metaphors). In the tale of Lokasenna, Loki is banned from the banquet by the gods after having killed Fimafeng. But he returns and begins insulting everyone present. Many respond in kind, and tensions escalate. Odin strains to keep the peace as Loki tells tales of outlandish sexual situations, stories that should have remained unspoken.
Hanck has checked in for some unimaginable excitement as he learns of how Toby died, and the political wrangling going on between the members of The Clan. Infuriated grief-stricken father, meet narcissistic trickster god who has angered all the other gods of The Clan.