On his third day in prison, Kaladin struggles with claustrophobia and restlessness despite the cell’s comforts. Hearing a disturbance, he briefly considers escaping by drawing in Stormlight from the wall spheres. Syl urges him to do what is right rather than simply obey laws, but Kaladin vows not to be executed and seethes at Dalinar’s failure to protect him and Elhokar’s caprice.

Kaladin’s resentment sharpens into the belief—echoing Moash—that the kingdom might be better without Elhokar, which frightens Syl and strains their bond. The disturbance subsides; a servant refuses to answer his questions. Then Wit appears in the anteroom with a stringed instrument, announces he wants a story, and draws Kaladin into one of his own.

Playing a driving rhythm, Wit narrates the legend of Fleet, the fastest man, who challenges a storm to a race from the eastern sea. Fleet surges ahead across Alethkar, falters in the mountains, and regains speed on the plains, but exhaustion mounts. Reaching the Misted Mountains of Shinovar, he climbs again as the storm closes in; descending, he can no longer keep his lead.

Fleet collapses before the western sea and dies, yet the storm pauses before his fallen body. In Wit's telling, Fleet’s will rises with the wind and finishes the race in spirit, reframing loss as triumph through perseverance. Wit leaves Kaladin with the meaning unresolved, telling him it is his story to decide, and Kaladin is left to reflect on storms, endurance, and the path he is choosing.