In her hospital room, Shallan reels from guilt over betraying Jasnah and from Kabsal’s death. Questioning why Jasnah survived the poisoning, she reexamines details: Jasnah dipped her finger in the jam without comment on spoilage and grimaced after eating bread. Shallan sketches the scenes and realizes the bread seemed to deform, suggesting Jasnah had transformed it.

Determined, Shallan walks to the Conclave at night and confronts Jasnah, declaring the Soulcaster is a decoy and producing a drawing of a dark realm—Shadesmar—she visited when she accidentally transformed a goblet to blood. Shallan explains her deduction: Jasnah Soulcast the jam, inadvertently removing the antidote and creating a foul imitation, and later transformed the bread to avoid poison. Jasnah’s silence confirms the deception.

To prove her own ability, Shallan attempts to return to Shadesmar by addressing the whispering, symbol-headed entities. When prompted for a truth, she says, “I’m a murderer. I killed my father.” Instantly she falls into a sea of glass beads, begins to drown, and is rescued by Jasnah, who commands the beads into a raft and thrusts Shallan back to the physical realm.

Back in the alcove, Jasnah furiously admonishes Shallan’s recklessness. Shallan apologizes, admits premeditated theft, and asks to stay and learn. After extracting promises of no more lies or theft, Jasnah relents and reaccepts her. She hands Shallan notes to study—their subject is the Voidbringers—formalizing Shallan’s role in her clandestine work.