Inside the vision, Shallan finds herself inhabiting a mortally wounded singer on a battlefield. Pattern explains that Glys placed her in a singer so she could better understand Ba-Ado-Mishram, and Shallan chooses to remain despite the pain when the Unmade approaches. Instead of attacking, Mishram heals Shallan and another ordinary singer, saying that Odium does not love the singers and that they must love themselves.

Shallan follows Mishram and questions her motives. Mishram continues healing fallen singers, and the nearby soldiers react with confusion because other Unmade have been monstrous. As Shallan observes singer attitudes toward war and coexistence, she begins reevaluating some of her assumptions about singer society. When Mishram reaches a dying human, however, she refuses to heal him, though she sings the Rhythm of Peace to ease his death. Mishram says Odium uses war to prepare for some larger future and insists the singers must first dominate humans because humans will not stop fighting otherwise.

The encounter changes abruptly when the current, imprisoned version of Mishram notices Shallan across the vision and threatens her with graphic violence. As Pattern and the others pull Shallan out, Shallan uses a prepared Lightweaving to leave behind an illusion of herself and continue the conversation from outside the vision. Through Glys, Shallan asks why Odium fears Mishram and whether Mishram could replace him. That question shocks Mishram, and when Shallan says she has been remade by killing those who created her, Mishram reaches toward her through the weakened prison. Rlain and Renarin step in, identify themselves as children of Sja-anat through Glys, and ask Mishram to let them find her before their enemies do. Mishram vanishes instead. Before the vision ends, Shallan notices Mraize hiding nearby in the historical scene with a strange dagger, apparently ready to strike her illusion but hesitating. Then Odium notices the intrusion, and Tumi and Glys cast Shallan away into chaos, leaving her separated from the others.

The chapter then shifts to Adolin in Azir, where he spars with Yanagawn and teaches him battlefield strategy through a game of towers. Adolin shows that superior numbers are not enough by themselves: terrain, maneuver, leadership, and chance can overturn an apparent disadvantage. He encourages Yanagawn to learn how to preserve an advantage instead of assuming victory is easy, then the two discuss the war’s possible end, other worlds, Wit, and the uncertainty of faith in a world where old religious assumptions are collapsing. Yanagawn also reveals that the imperial household has large amounts of aluminum, and Adolin urges that it be gathered for military use.

The evening briefly turns personal when Yanagawn translates for Hmask, revealing that Adolin once saved Hmask’s son during the Battle of Thaylen Field. Soon after, scribes arrive with urgent news for Noura, and Adolin follows her to learn the truth. Emul and Tashikk have seceded from the Azish Empire after making their own deals with Odium, and their troops are delaying the army marching to relieve Azir. Adolin realizes Odium has strategically isolated them, and the defenders now must survive three and a half more days with no reinforcements coming.