Seven and a half years earlier near Hearthstone, Kaladin tells Laral that Lirin wants to send him to Kharbranth to train as a surgeon. Kaladin’s mood swings between melancholy and curiosity, softened by Tien, who lifts his spirits with a rock whose patterns appear when wetted. The three hunt lurgs; Kaladin demonstrates how water dissolves a cocoon to reveal the creature, then helps Tien capture one as it spins a new cocoon.

Laral presses Kaladin about war and the chance to win a Shardblade, while Kaladin admits he wants to see the wider world. They approach a group of older boys debating whether darkeyes can truly become lighteyes by winning a Blade. When Jost boasts about his father and Shardbearers, Laral laughs and Kaladin’s clinical correction angers Jost, who demands a staff duel to defend his father’s honor.

Jost quickly injures Kaladin, but a surge of exhilaration and instinct grips Kaladin as he rallies, disarms one of Jost’s hands, and lands a hit. Seeing blood, Kaladin freezes, and Jost sweeps him down to end the fight. Laral walks away without helping. Humbled yet hungry for the feeling of combat, Kaladin asks Jost to teach him; Jost refuses, saying Kaladin must be what he is—a surgeon.

Tien quietly leaves another “special” stone for Kaladin, who returns home bruised and conflicted. He finds Lirin sitting in the dark and learns Brightlord Wistiow has died. Lirin reveals Wistiow bequeathed a fortune in spheres to fund Kaladin’s Kharbranth training as a final act for his people.

Kaladin sits outside, washing the stones and finding a smiling pattern in one. Though a single moment with the quarterstaff sang to him, Wistiow’s bequest seals his path toward surgery, leaving Kaladin feeling constrained and uncertain about who he is and what he wants to be.