Kaladin and Shallan flee through the chasms as a chasmfiend gives chase. Kaladin cannot draw Stormlight and has not seen Syl since the fall, so he follows Shallan when she abruptly changes direction. She leads them back toward earlier fallen soldiers, then orders their light covered. The beast halts to feed, allowing Shallan to observe it and its arrowlike spren before Kaladin pulls her away.

They retreat into darker channels and walk for hours in a new direction. Exhausted after burning through her spheres during the flight, Shallan agrees to camp. Over rations she sketches, mapping their route from memory and beginning a chasmfiend study, while Kaladin plans to navigate by sunrise.

Before dawn they resume. Their banter turns probing as Kaladin questions Shallan’s motives for coming to the Shattered Plains. She cites Jasnah’s research and concern about parshmen; he counters with the costs to darkeyes and the reality of slavery. Shallan collects a vine specimen, and Kaladin admits he once suspected her of being a threat.

Challenging his assumptions about her sheltered life, Shallan swears she means no harm to Adolin or his family and seeks to prevent disaster. Kaladin believes her. Then the first sunlight shows they have turned south again, forcing Shallan to redraw their path as time before the highstorm slips away.