Szeth flies south with the Skybreakers for days before Nin diverts him to Marat, a loosely unified land of city-tribes. They land near a small coastal town showing recent battle damage and approach a courthouse with its bronze doors broken and the word “justice” carved above the entrance.

Inside, amid bloodstains and abandoned gear, Nin explains that the singers seized the town and forced survivors to labor at nearby docks. He asks whether what happened was justice. Szeth rejects the idea, and Nin counters with hypotheticals about authority and order, framing the difficulty of judging “ordinary” people in wartime.

Nin admits he long denied the Desolation’s return, even after visiting Ishar, and confesses he failed to prevent it. He warns that with Honor dead, Radiants could destabilize the Oathpact. He manifests a straight, slotted Honorblade in one hand as they climb to the loft; from Szeth’s back, Nightblood urges caution about Nin.

Overlooking a bay crowded with ships, Nin says justice must still be done despite his own passions. He argues that mercy is chaotic and that law exists to avoid sentimental misjudgment. Nin instructs Szeth to choose a Third Ideal; most Skybreakers swear absolute adherence to local laws, but other paths are possible.

Szeth challenges Nin’s impartiality, noting his selective executions of Surgebinders. Nin concedes this and reveals his “leniency” derives from having sworn the Fifth Ideal—becoming the law itself. He summons a second, distinct Shardblade from his spren, admits he joined his own order, and then begins to reveal the Heralds’ decision at Aharietiam to end the cycle of Desolations.