Fourteen months earlier at Narak, Eshonai falls into a chasm as the listeners summon the Everstorm. Disoriented in the dark and floodwater, she tries to climb out, then realizes a highstorm is arriving too. The storms collide, a surge rips her from the wall, and she is battered and drowning, her Shardplate cracked.

Refusing to die a slave to the rhythms, Eshonai rejects Odium’s songs and summons her Blade to anchor herself. In the depths she hears two pure tones—then their harmony—and glimpses a small, shooting‑star spren. She surfaces briefly, then slips again, attuning the Rhythm of War and holding fast until the waters recede. Mortally wounded, she embraces childhood rhythms, wins her inner battle for freedom, and drifts into light.

In a luminous after-state, the Rider of Storms speaks, explaining she was highly Invested—Radiant at death—and he accepted her unsaid Words, sustaining her. When Eshonai laments failure, he counters that she chose like her ancestors: surrendering power for freedom, and that mortals create meaning.

Offering one final gift, the Rider lets her become the storm and witness the world: humans in myriad lives, captive parshmen with hope, lands and creatures across Roshar. Filled with understanding of the rhythms, she hears his farewell and passes peacefully into the unknown.