This trip to Tristone was a last resort. Ever since he took that whipping for Phoenix Golding, his health had deteriorated significantly. He was already half-dead to begin with, and now what little life he had left was gone. He couldn't do any heavy labor.
Besides, now that he and Phoenix Golding were divorced, he no longer had any connection to the Golding family, so he'd lost the special treatment he used to enjoy. Easy jobs wouldn't fall to him, and he couldn't handle the heavy ones. Staying on Millstone Peak was a death sentence. It was Jacqueline Spann who came up with the idea for him to go to Tristone and find Bernice.
