At dawn in Urithiru, Adolin heads toward a meeting of rulers after checking on Gallant and finds Colot, a Cobalt Guard and former Windrunner squire, waiting in the common lift line. Colot admits Dalinar has slipped away from his guards again, likely through distraction rather than intent. Refusing to leave Colot behind, Adolin pulls him onto Emperor Yanagawn’s crowded lift as the emperor pauses its departure for them.

During the unusually swift ride upward, Yanagawn asks Adolin about the enemy armies moving on Azir and learns the invasion force is large enough to threaten a capital with limited defenders. The conversation turns personal when Yanagawn asks whether Adolin fears failing his people. Adolin admits he is still haunted by Kholinar’s fall and Elhokar’s death, and says he bears that pain through training and discipline. Yanagawn, who feels constrained by a system that keeps him from direct action, confesses that he sometimes wonders whether his inability to fight is wisdom or cowardice.

Yanagawn then speaks openly about his past as a commoner and failed thief, despite the discomfort of his attendants and Noura’s polite correction that he should focus on what he has become. Adolin sees that Yanagawn is wrestling with what kind of ruler he is under pressure, especially with war again threatening his homeland. By the time the lift reaches the top, both men are headed into a meeting that will determine how to answer the new danger.

Meanwhile, on the atrium’s ground floor, Shallan uses Lightweaving and the persona of Radiant to watch events unfold while her agents cover the tower. She confirms Adolin is protected by allies including Isom and Stargyle, then shifts fully into her disguise and confers with Gaz. The Ghostbloods have made no obvious move, which convinces Shallan they are avoiding attention rather than abandoning their goals. She concludes they must still be watching Dalinar, Navani, Adolin, and the other key players for whatever today’s political developments might reveal.

While they wait, Shallan notices Gaz has grown better at disguise work, and their conversation turns to his gambling addiction. Gaz explains that moderation never worked for him because gambling consumed his thoughts and fed his sense of worthlessness, but being cut off from the dens by Stargyle and Red forced him to redirect that obsessive planning into useful spycraft. The exchange ends when a blinking spanreed message arrives from Shob: he has finally spotted a Ghostblood. The sighting gives Shallan the lead she has been waiting for and may let her team trace the organization back to its current hideout.