In the rain outside the Ghostblood hideout in the military camp, Radiant and her team pose as road workers to get close enough to act. Shade, a Ghostblood in Alethi uniform, notices them and orders them to move away before more Ghostbloods arrive, which confirms the timing is urgent. To create a distraction, Gaz loudly argues about the orders while Radiant approaches the masked female guard on the porch. When the guard grabs her and counters her knife attack, Radiant uses her Shardplate in an unusual way, forming it around the guard to pin her in place and keep her from crying out.

With the guard immobilized, Gaz, Red, and Radiant quickly hide her in their pavilion. Gaz chokes the woman unconscious while Shallan prepares to take her place, because the team needs the woman’s mask and position to get inside without using obvious Lightweaving. They strip and bind the captive, discover the mask is removable, and note that the woman is an offworlder who only resembles a Shin person. Shallan puts on the guard’s clothing and mask, copies her posture and bearing with Veil’s help, and returns to the doorway just before two late-arriving Ghostbloods, Aika and Jezinor, reach the safehouse. By imitating the guard’s routine and remaining silent, Shallan gains entry into the Ghostblood stronghold alone.

The chapter then shifts to Navani in Urithiru, where she leaves Dalinar to speak privately with the Stormfather and turns to the mounting burdens of rule. She deals with housing, food, message monitoring, and military supply issues as war preparations intensify. In meetings with Sebarial and Palona, she confronts the financial and logistical strain of supplying Urithiru, Thaylenah, and the Shattered Plains without overreliance on the Oathgates. In a discussion with Highprince Aladar, she also faces growing political instability among the lighteyes, who resent Jasnah’s and Dalinar’s reforms freeing slaves and elevating former darkeyes through Radiance.

While managing these crises, Navani keeps thinking about Dalinar’s dangerous ambition to take up Honor’s power. The Sibling warns that a Shard’s power cannot safely remain without a Vessel and that divine power detached from the Physical Realm is deeply dangerous. Even so, Navani has no time to fully dwell on that threat, because she must keep Urithiru functioning for the remaining days before the contest and possible invasions.

Navani then meets Rushu and a group of ardents, who demonstrate progress on a new fabrial idea: moving flamespren in and out of devices instead of permanently trapping them. By using heat, tone, and careful handling, they transfer spren between an oven and a heating fabrial, and Rushu explains that flamespren respond to names, attention, and praise. The experiment suggests spren might be cultivated to enter fabrials willingly, which leads Navani to argue that fabrial use could become a cooperative relationship rather than pure captivity. The Sibling, long hostile to fabrial practices, cautiously agrees this approach may be an acceptable compromise and even begins speaking directly with Rushu. Encouraged by that breakthrough, Navani leaves to rejoin Dalinar, aware that his conversation with the Stormfather has ended and will have serious consequences.