Shallan’s caravan approaches smoke and discovers a battered camp with wounded guards, parshmen tending chulls, and smoldering wagons. A lighteyed scout warns that bandits they fought earlier will return before the oncoming highstorm. When arrows rain and bandits charge, Tvlakv urges flight, but Shallan insists on helping and asks the other caravan for service to reach the Shattered Plains.

Choosing audacity, Shallan orders Tvlakv and Tag to assist below, turns her wagon toward the approaching deserters, and confronts them. Drawing in Stormlight, she projects confidence and seeks their commander. Vathah emerges as leader, and Shallan appeals to the deserters’ buried discipline and pride, offering a chance to erase past crimes by saving lives now.

Vathah resists, citing betrayal by brightlords, but the distant screams—and Shallan’s promise of new beginnings—sway his men. One by one, most break ranks and charge to the rescue, with Bluth joining them. Left with only two, Vathah curses their choice yet decides to follow to keep them alive, effectively conceding to Shallan’s moral leadership.

Drained of Light, Shallan stays back, sketching a prayer as the fighting rages. Pattern observes that she is “lies and truth,” naming her Surges as Lightweaving and Transformation, noting she changed the men without Soulcasting. When the noise of battle subsides, Shallan finishes her prayer and realizes a page has been torn from her sketchbook.