In Kholinar’s palace vision, Navani waits where Adolin’s account told her Elhokar’s rescue attempt would arrive. She resists rushing straight to Gavinor because saving him alone would still leave them trapped in the Spiritual Realm. Reaching for the Sibling, Navani sorts through the dissonant tones around her and learns that the noise is made by possible futures. The Sibling explains that Navani cannot simply make a perpendicularity from where she is, but she might escape through a point of transition if she can find or create one.

Elhokar, Kaladin, and the king’s loyal soldiers then appear exactly as they did during the fall of Kholinar. Navani is shaken but also comforted to see Elhokar at his bravest, leading confidently to rescue his family. She joins them, directs them toward Aesudan’s chambers, and hurries past the confrontation with the queen to reach Gavinor. There she finds that Gavinor is real, older than in the original event, terrified, and convinced that his grandfather hates him because of the visions tormenting him.

As Navani comforts Gavinor, she realizes that the figure wearing Elhokar’s face is no longer her son, or even a simple reenactment. The being reveals itself through its words and manner as Odium, who has been studying her fears and anger while helping manipulate Gavinor through the visions. Navani understands that Odium now controls this space too completely for her to force her way to Dalinar, so she makes a painful choice: she will stop trying to interfere with the past and instead get herself and Gavinor out while she still can.

Navani pushes the vision onward, fleeing with Gavinor through the palace and refusing to look back when Odium imitates Elhokar’s pleas for help. At the Oathgate, she orders the vision-version of Kaladin to activate it, arguing that he and the scene are not real but she and Gavinor are. Kaladin obeys, the Oathgate flares with power, and Navani uses that surge as the transition point the Sibling described. Trusting Dalinar to resist Odium on his own, Navani connects to the Sibling and pulls herself and Gavinor out of the vision into her rooms in Urithiru.

The chapter then shifts to Venli, who secretly infiltrates the human camp at Narak under guard. She sees how desperate the battle has become: the fortifications are cracking, the dead and wounded are everywhere, and even a Radiant is breaking under the new horror of spren being killable. In the command room, an exhausted Azish Windrunner officer greets her and explains the humans’ desperate proposal. Venli immediately sees that the plan as stated will fail, but she also sees a possible revision and says it can work only if it involves Jasnah.