Lirin conducts medical checks on a flood of refugees outside fog-shrouded Hearthstone, staying calm through practiced surgeon’s discipline. He treats scurvy and shock, quietly directing the traumatized toward aid. Singer citylady Abiajan confronts him about compassion, recalling when he set her arm as a child, while Lirin insists a surgeon must not be overwhelmed. They clash over disease, with Lirin warning of contagion despite her superstition about spren.

Among parshmen guards and inspectors, Lirin notes the singers’ search for identity in dress and manner. Laral brings water and quietly confirms that the famed Herdazian general, Dieno "the Mink," waits in line. Lirin refuses to betray him despite despising war, arguing that heroism wastes lives; they plan to alert Kaladin and use Toralin Roshone’s staged antics as distraction.

Lirin examines the Mink, confirming scars and treating a wound, then orchestrates a ruse: a companion feigns a leg injury, painspren rise, and a litter is fetched. Using the Mink’s men as bearers, Lirin pulls them all from the line. Roshone arrives, convincingly staggering and drawing the inspectors’ attention. With Dor distracted, Lirin slips the group through the checkpoint toward the surgery.

Abiajan suddenly halts all movement, flustered, and summons Lirin to meet a visitor. A hulking Fused arrives with armed singers and a warform interpreter, then orders a search for a dangerous human spy—tall, with wavy black hair and slave brands including shash. Soldiers sweep the line, throwing back hoods as refugees panic.

Hoping the hunt is unrelated to the Mink, Lirin holds steady. The description matches Kaladin. A soldier reveals Kaladin among the refugees, and he bursts alight with power, exposing himself and throwing Lirin’s careful smuggling plan—and Hearthstone’s fragile calm—into immediate jeopardy.