In the refuge vision shaped from Rlain and Renarin’s spren, Shallan waits for Dalinar and Navani to reach another vision and reflects on how close her fight with Mraize came to exposing them. She asks Pattern how Formless could have returned after Shallan believed she had banished that part of herself. Remembering Wit’s counsel that her pain is real but not deserved, Shallan decides that Veil and Radiant were survival tools, while Formless represents surrendering to what Mraize wants; because Shallan recognizes that danger, she resolves not to let Formless become a full persona again.

While Shallan thinks about Adolin, Ba-Ado-Mishram’s face appears in the clouds, and Renarin simultaneously notices the same face in the stone patterns below. Realizing the entire refuge vision may be tainted, the group retreats into a stone building from Rlain’s childhood. There, Shallan keeps spotting Mishram’s face in the walls, while Rlain shares memories of growing up alone after his parents died in a flood, raising axehounds, and feeling isolated; Renarin quietly admits he understands that loneliness.

The group then turns to strategy. Pattern suggests that thinking of Ba-Ado-Mishram may be drawing her attention because her prison is leaking, and Glys warns that even this place may no longer be fully safe. Renarin insists their mission is still to stop the Ghostblood assassins and leave, though Rlain wishes they could understand more of the ancient visions, including how Honor died. After discussing how Shallan nearly revealed Renarin’s and Rlain’s spren by summoning armor, the three agree to enter another vision together and try again to trap or kill the assassins; Shallan has the strange dagger, and Renarin and Rlain will seek weapons inside the next vision.

Hours after another prolonged assault in Azimir, Adolin walks the quiet plaza outside the Oathgate dome, exhausted and burdened by fear for the city, the reinforcements under attack elsewhere, and the possibility of another doomed defense. The night’s stillness drives him inward, and he dwells on his failures in Kholinar, the throne he left behind, and the killing of Sadeas that he still believes was necessary but not noble. Missing Shallan and uncertain of his own identity, Adolin is approached by Noura, who asks him to stop "corrupting" Emperor Yanagawn.

Noura argues that Yanagawn must remain a stable symbol on the throne, but Adolin counters that the emperor is also a young man who needs a true friend rather than only attendants and handlers. Their argument reveals that Noura once helped elevate Yanagawn as a convenient choice, yet now loves him fiercely and fears losing one of Azir’s first genuinely humane rulers. She also reveals her deeper suspicion: Adolin abandoned a throne of his own, and she fears he will teach Yanagawn to do the same. Adolin answers that isolation will break Yanagawn faster than freedom will, and he stresses that he wants nothing from the emperor except his well-being. Noura does not fully yield, but she lets Adolin leave without further challenge, suggesting that Adolin has at least forced her to reconsider.