Jasnah reads pages of a Kholinar "madman" declaring himself Talenel’Elin, Herald of War. The specificity convinces her a Herald came to Kholinar and was dismissed. In a secure, windowless room in Urithiru, with vents stuffed and multiple spanreeds copying notes to Tashikk, she and Ivory assess the implications and decide they must locate him.

Ivory urges searching Shadesmar, where souls are more visible, though both worry some might know how to hide them. Jasnah laments lost time and the sudden ubiquity of knowledge she once painstakingly uncovered. Ivory warns the enemy is stirring and would destroy both spren and humans, sharpening the urgency of their hunt.

Turning inward, Jasnah probes Ivory about Shallan’s recent behavior. Ivory finds Shallan troubling and unstable, and disparages Cryptics as lie-feasting busybodies, though he concedes a bond might temper one. Jasnah admits a terror of losing her own sanity, reflecting on childhood trauma, and Ivory notes how the spren were left leaderless after the Recreance, with inkspren culture only now recovering.

Jasnah reviews reports on Shallan’s accomplishments and considers that more challenge, not constraint, may serve her better. Ivory states the ten Orders are returned. Jasnah notes they ended in death; Ivory counters that one “lived in death instead,” underscoring the fragile, altered resurgence of the Radiants.

Finally, Jasnah and Ivory weigh whether to reveal a secret learned from Wit. Ivory fears it could trigger another Recreance, but Jasnah—trusting in truth—withholds judgment. She binds her copied notes, resolved to pursue the Herald and prepare for what the enemy’s awakening portends.