Venli, confined to a stormshelter hermitage outside Kholinar, repeats her presentation to groups of singers while being barred from the city itself. She keeps Timbre hidden, warning the spren that watchers seek spren like her. Feeling like a relic and burdened by guilt, Venli debates her ambitions and wonders if Odium might need new leaders among the Fused.

Torn by memories of Eshonai and Demid, Venli questions the fate of the surviving listeners from Narak. She recognizes how her current form shapes her thinking, contrasting Eshonai’s duty with her own hunger for power. Timbre pleads through Rhythms for Peace and remembrance, but Venli insists she cannot resist Odium.

As the Everstorm approaches, Timbre hides and Venli leaves the window open, surrendering to the Rhythm of Destruction. She is swept into a vision: a platform high above Roshar, blackness behind, and a yellow-white star that rushes in and burns her away. Odium declares she is not telling his story well enough and commands obedience—“You are mine. Remember this.”—before vaporizing her.

Venli awakens on the hermitage floor, fingers bloody from clawing stone, the storm receding. Timbre offers the Rhythm of Peace, but the voidspren in Venli’s gemheart thrums to Craving, drowning solace. Venli whispers that the “wrong sister” survived, recognizing the torment as the price of bringing the gods back, and remains trapped between submission and resistance.