Sja-anat, the Taker of Secrets, moves through the Kholinar palace in a half-existence between the Physical Realm and Shadesmar. She reflects on her role among the Unmade, her ability to keep only carefully chosen secrets from Odium, and how the Everstorm reawakened her thinking. She accepts the cost of sacrificing some of her “children” to protect others.

Preparing a gambit, Sja-anat meets two Enlightened windspren and a greater child of shifting light. She sends them toward the tower at Urithiru, the smaller windspren as distractions, and the greater child to consider bonding a human and to contact Mraize. She insists the child choose its own bond, not act only from her will.

Odium’s presence descends, oppressive and radiant. He questions the spren she has sent and whether she has been speaking to humans. Maintaining their ongoing fiction, Sja-anat claims she acts in anticipation of his desires and says the spren are bound for the tower to watch the humans and prepare for the Bondsmith’s next move.

When Sja-anat asks to go to the tower—calling the Sibling her “cousin”—Odium denies her. He orders her to watch Taravangian instead, as a betrayal ploy approaches. Sja-anat notes the tension between Odium’s Vessel and power: the mind resists questions, but the power embraces passion and argument.

After Odium departs to speak with the Nine, Sja-anat plots. She will feign sulking and allow Odium to find and unmake the decoy windspren, hoping he overlooks the greater child she truly sent. She obeys outwardly, preparing to accompany Taravangian closely, seeing him as a weapon while she preserves her secret designs.