Lift hides in Urithiru’s air shafts to watch Dalinar and Navani open a perpendicularity, and the light forces her into a painful, revealing moment of self-reflection. She sees a possible older self from her Iriali childhood and realizes she has never truly accepted that her mother is dead; part of Lift still believes her mother will return and must find her unchanged. The moment breaks when Lift discovers that Gavinor has secretly followed her into the tunnels, and she tries to push him back to safety before they are caught.

When Navani cries out, the perpendicularity suddenly pulls Lift and Gavinor toward it. Lift cannot stop the force, and although Wit manages to seize Lift from the air, Gavinor slips away unseen. Wit confirms that Dalinar and Navani have vanished bodily, not in the usual vision-like way, and he and Design can find no sign of them in Shadesmar. Wit concludes that Dalinar, Navani, and likely Gavinor have been drawn into the Spiritual Realm; because Dalinar must face Odium’s champion in eight days, his failure to appear could count as a broken oath and free Odium from Roshar entirely. Faced with a knock at the door and the risk of panic, Wit decides that they must conceal what happened.

In Shinovar that night, Kaladin fails at two peaceful tasks in a row: his attempt at cooking produces a terrible stew, and his effort to learn the flute only frustrates him further. He tries to draw Szeth out, but Szeth rejects the offer of emotional help, insisting that his suffering is deserved punishment for the innocents he killed and for obeying the cowardly traditions that exiled him. Syl pushes back against Kaladin’s despair, reminding him that Bridge Four was not merely a band of killers but a family he saved and transformed. Encouraged, Kaladin tries again, and Szeth finally admits that he still loves his people, notices that Shinovar’s night is unnaturally dark, and suggests they begin by visiting his family homestead.

Later, as Kaladin practices the flute again, the Wind finally speaks to him directly. It says Odium has changed, that this change has made speech easier for forces like the Wind and the Stones, and that Kaladin’s presence in Shinovar matters because together they must preserve a remnant of Honor. Elsewhere, in the Cognitive version of Urithiru, Lopen investigates the shattered chamber where the experiment failed. He finds one dead Malwish man and no trace of Dalinar’s allies, which convinces him that the missing people either escaped, passed beyond his reach, or vanished into a higher realm; he also senses that Navani knows more than she is saying.

Ishar then appears before Kaladin without warning. The Herald seems more coherent than before but remains deeply delusional, claiming to be a god, calling Dalinar a false Bondsmith, and saying he bears the other Heralds’ darkness through the Oathpact. Ishar recognizes Kaladin as unexpectedly important, notes Kaladin’s unusual Connections, and identifies Szeth as his servant. When Kaladin tries to offer help, Ishar refuses to discuss his own condition and says he will grant further audience only after Szeth finishes the pilgrimage or task Ishar gave him long ago. Although this delays any hope of bringing Ishar to Dalinar, Kaladin ends the night with a small but real victory over his own darkness, deciding that intrusive thoughts do not get to rule him.