King of the World, a sig­nif­i­cant chap­ter set in 1969, begins with Kya embark­ing on a jour­ney that marks a key turn­ing point in her life. She sets off in her boat toward the wharf man­aged by Jumpin’, where she plans to obtain a bus sched­ule for her upcom­ing trip to Greenville. This trip holds con­sid­er­able weight for Kya, as it will be her first face-to-face meet­ing with her edi­tor, Robert Fos­ter, after years of exchang­ing let­ters and notes about her book. Their writ­ten exchanges have been filled with deep dis­cus­sions about the artis­tic direc­tion of her work, par­tic­u­lar­ly the poet­ic details of nature that Kya is so inti­mate­ly con­nect­ed with, like the iri­des­cent feath­ers of hum­ming­birds. This con­nec­tion through their shared love of the nat­ur­al world has not only helped refine Kya’s writ­ing but has also fos­tered a bond between them that is both pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al. As Kya nav­i­gates the famil­iar yet emo­tion­al­ly charged waters toward the wharf, she feels a mix of excite­ment and appre­hen­sion, know­ing that this meet­ing will mark a shift in her life, pro­pelling her from the iso­la­tion of the marsh­es into a new, uncer­tain world.

Upon arriv­ing at the wharf, Kya is greet­ed by Jumpin’, who express­es curios­i­ty about her trip to Greenville. Their con­ver­sa­tion begins casu­al­ly, with Jumpin’ show­ing an inter­est in Kya’s jour­ney and the upcom­ing meet­ing with Fos­ter. But the tone of the con­ver­sa­tion shifts dra­mat­i­cal­ly when Jumpin’ notices the bruis­es on Kya’s face. His con­cern is evi­dent, and he gen­tly asks about the marks, and Kya, ini­tial­ly reluc­tant to divulge the truth, tries to brush it off with a plau­si­ble excuse. How­ev­er, in a moment of deep vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, Kya final­ly con­fess­es that the bruis­es were caused by Chase, who had assault­ed her near­ly a month ear­li­er. This marks a piv­otal moment for Kya, as it is the first time she has open­ly admit­ted the truth about the abuse she suf­fered at Chase’s hands. The act of con­fess­ing to Jumpin’, some­one she has come to trust, sig­ni­fies a shift in Kya’s emo­tion­al journey—one where she begins to open her­self to the pos­si­bil­i­ty of sup­port and care from oth­ers. Jumpin’, under­stand­ably furi­ous and pro­tec­tive, reacts strong­ly to the news, sug­gest­ing that Chase must be held account­able for his actions. His pro­tec­tive nature toward Kya brings a sense of com­fort and sol­i­dar­i­ty, giv­ing her a glimpse of the emo­tion­al sup­port she has long been deprived of.

This chap­ter explores sev­er­al pro­found themes, includ­ing trust, vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, and the com­plex­i­ties of human con­nec­tion, all set against the back­drop of Kya’s soli­tary exis­tence. While Kya has always been con­nect­ed to nature, her inter­ac­tions with peo­ple have been lim­it­ed, often filled with judg­ment and mis­un­der­stand­ings. In Jumpin’, how­ev­er, she finds some­one who is not only con­cerned about her well-being but is will­ing to stand up for her in a way that no one else has. The rela­tion­ship between Kya and Jumpin’ is under­stat­ed yet deeply sig­nif­i­cant, offer­ing Kya a rare sense of belong­ing and sup­port. Jumpin’s reac­tion to Kya’s rev­e­la­tion also high­lights the emo­tion­al impact of vio­lence on Kya, not just phys­i­cal­ly but emo­tion­al­ly, as she process­es the betray­al and pain she’s expe­ri­enced. His offer of pro­tec­tion becomes a sym­bol of the unex­pect­ed places where sup­port and care can emerge, even in the most unlike­ly of cir­cum­stances. The nar­ra­tive also touch­es on the com­plex­i­ties of human con­nec­tions, as Kya nav­i­gates the chal­lenges of iso­la­tion and the strug­gle for accep­tance. The emo­tion­al depth of the con­ver­sa­tion between Kya and Jumpin’ marks a key moment in Kya’s char­ac­ter devel­op­ment, where she starts to acknowl­edge her own vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and, for the first time, allows her­self to lean on anoth­er per­son for emo­tion­al sup­port. The vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty she shows here will serve as a cru­cial turn­ing point as she con­tin­ues to con­front her past and the emo­tion­al scars left by her abu­sive rela­tion­ship with Chase.