A Diagram epigraph warns of the dangers of stressing Nahel bond candidates. On the Shattered Plains, Dalinar’s unified forces surge onto the plateaus. Shallan rides with Vathah’s men, banters with Adolin about her slow mount, and worries about the missing Gaz—until he arrives and delivers a rare, worn copy of Words of Radiance.

Days of slow travel follow. Sheltered in a coach, Shallan studies the book’s mixed lore on Radiant orders, Ideals, and team structures, cross-referencing her Stormseat maps and planning to locate and operate the Oathgate. Pattern confirms or rejects details from memory as rain begins and the Weeping’s steady drizzle sets in.

Navani visits Shallan’s coach. After initial tension, they reconcile over shared grief for Jasnah. Navani offers resources without seizing control: copies of notes, archaeologists, surveyors, guards, and a research team for Oathgate quotes. Shallan outlines tasks and then reveals Jasnah could Soulcast unaided—effectively a Radiant. Skeptical but stirred, Navani departs to begin the work.

Elsewhere, during the Weeping, Kaladin lies injured and Stormlightless, depressed by Syl’s absence. Moash—now guarding Elhokar in Shardplate—details the plan to stage an Assassin in White alert, clear witnesses, and kill the king once Dalinar is committed on the Plains. Moash probes Kaladin’s lost powers; they spar over right and necessity. Before leaving, Moash delivers that Elhokar wants to see Kaladin, while Kaladin feels trapped, unable to intervene.