An epigraph recounts Navani Kholin’s lecture on fabrials, noting attractors like smoke-gatherers and speculating that repellers may be possible with the right metal.

In Kholinar, Venli—Leshwi’s Voice in envoyform—rushes servants to a perilous tower chamber to receive the Fused. Leshwi arrives, is attended, and Venli masks her Radiant bond to Timbre. Venli tests Shumin, a nervous workform femalen, for composure at the room’s edge and secures her placement. Leshwi mentions a clash with the Windrunner leader and reveals he killed Lezian, the Pursuer.

Venli then presents Yokska, a human tailor, to experiment with fashions. Leshwi rejects elevating a human—though she permits Yokska to teach a singer—citing optics among the Fused. After Leshwi departs to meditate, Venli, with allies Dul and Mazish, secures the guardroom and debriefs Shumin, emphasizing strength and agency over indoctrination.

Venli outlines her covert “listeners”: not a rebellion but objectors seeking neutrality and a homeland apart from both humans and Fused. She describes two paths—persuade sympathetic Fused like Leshwi or flee and hide—and uses both Voidlight and Stormlight to briefly view Shadesmar, checking for spies and confirming Shumin’s form. Concealing her Radiant truth, she claims to have contained a Voidspren and hints at spren allies. As Shumin commits, Venli senses Leshwi’s approach in Shadesmar and hastily normalizes the room. Leshwi arrives unexpectedly, warning something dangerous is happening and the war is about to take a new turn.