Adolin trains alone on the Shattered Plains, attempting to throw and command his Shardblade to remain intact midflight, a skill he struggles to execute after the prior night’s attack. Bruised and wary, he reflects on Kaladin’s unsettling effectiveness and his own shaken confidence. He notices a procession of ardents and parshmen escorting Soulcasters.

Inside a silk enclosure, Kadash oversees five Soulcasters who, after a chant, create a massive stone windbreak for the warcamp. Adolin notes one fabrial’s dimmed glow, likely from cracked gemstones, and recognizes how dependent the war effort is on Soulcasting. Fearing the Assassin in White’s return and the Radiant-like feats he displayed, Adolin orders Kadash to research historical Radiant abilities and report how to counter such powers, unsettling Kadash with the implication that the Radiants may not be gone.

View shifts to Navani, who relishes the ordered efficiency of Dalinar’s warcamp and directs a critical test. Her team disengages supports on a tower’s top, which remains suspended, then uses paired pulleys to pull down a linked wooden square, causing a separate parapet platform to rise into the air. The conjoined fabrials work, though the ascent wobbles, and scholars rush to inspect gemstones for cracks.

Adolin joins Navani, noticing her practical glove on the safehand. She explains conjoined fabrials in simple terms: split gemstones can be paired to mirror, or invert, each other’s motion; pulling one half down lifts the other. She outlines limits—proximity weakens the linkage and risks cracking under heavy loads—but notes immediate tactical use: portable elevated archer platforms. She hints at more ambitious applications under study.

As they depart for an urgent highprinces’ meeting about the assassin, Adolin broaches Dalinar and Navani’s relationship. Navani admits she encouraged it despite tradition, acknowledging the political complications while remaining unapologetic. Adolin remains protective and on edge as they leave the engineering grounds.