Kaladin languishes in a comfortable yet stifling prison, cut off from light each night and struggling to maintain hope and strength. Syl flits nearby and reveals a Cryptic witnessed the duel and is hiding, likely seeking someone to bond. The prospect that another Radiant might arise—perhaps even Adolin—oddly comforts Kaladin’s isolation.

Dalinar visits the cell and, treating the confinement as a temporary assignment, assures Kaladin that Elhokar will issue a formal pardon and reinstate him in a few days. Kaladin voices distrust, citing rumors of prisoners in Kholinar left to die. Dalinar acknowledges past mistakes and admits the incident ties to a man named Roshone.

Dalinar recounts that Roshone, a petty lighteyes with political protection, misled Elhokar, and was exiled rather than imprisoned due to alliances and Sadeas’s influence. Realizing this is the same Roshone who ruined Hearthstone and led to Tien’s conscription, Kaladin challenges the fairness that shields the powerful while the lowly suffer.

Dalinar explains he chose Kaladin by instinct to help change the kingdom and urges him to reform perceptions by excelling within his unprecedented post, showing loyalty to the Throne despite the king’s flaws. He warns that reckless challenges will not alter entrenched prejudice, then departs.

Left alone, Kaladin broods over Syl’s admission that she knew of Roshone and the cascading harm that followed. Concluding that Dalinar’s virtues are shackled by Elhokar’s failures, Kaladin embraces Moash’s view: for the kingdom’s good—and to free Dalinar’s hand—the king must die.