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*Six years ago.* Only the very most important people are permitted to watch Gavilar's holy interment in the royal catacombs of Kholinar. Dalinar stands at the front of the small crowd, fires on either side throwing the chamber into a primal, alive light that reminds him of the Rift; but tonight the older pain is overshadowed by a fresh wound — the sight of his brother lying dead on the slab.

The wizened ardent Jevena preaches the rite. *Spirit, mind, and body. Death is the separation of the three.* The body remains in the world to be reused; the spirit rejoins the pool of divine essence that birthed it; the mind goes to the Tranquiline Halls for its reward. She names Gavilar the Majestic — first king of Alethkar of the new Kholin Dynasty, thirty-second highprince of the Kholin princedom, heir of the Sunmaker, already leading men again on the battlefield of the true war against the Voidbringers. Dalinar clenches his fists tight to keep from trembling, angry at Jevena and angrier at the Almighty — he was not supposed to outlive Gavilar. He feels Sebarial's eyes on his back, expecting a drunken scene, and silently refuses to give him one.

The drinking, Dalinar tells himself, has been going better lately: he confines his benders to monthly trips to outer cities, ostensibly to give Elhokar room to rule without his shadow, but in truth to escape — somewhere unwatched — the sound of children crying. Back in Kholinar he holds the line. He has not screamed at his sons since the trip back from the Shattered Plains when he yelled at Renarin. Adolin and Renarin are the only pure remnant of Evi. A traitor voice in his head asks where he was at the feast when Gavilar was dying.

Jevena moves on to the keteks, some traditional, others composed by the women of the family for the occasion. The ardents burn the poems in braziers as prayers. One slaps Dalinar harder than the rest, and he knows instantly it is Navani's — she stands gazing straight ahead with a hand on her son's shoulder while Jasnah wraps her arms around herself and finally pulls away and stalks off toward the palace. The Soulcaster approaches next, granite-skinned and glowing within, hood up, sex impossible to tell. They run their fingers along Gavilar's jaw, brush back his hair, tap one of the stones replacing his eyes, and touch his forehead. He becomes a statue instantly. Ardents lever him upright in the alcove of Kholin monarchs — sword pointed down, hand outstretched, gazing toward eternity — and his last terrible night of broken fall and treason is sealed away behind a perfect ruler in his prime.

Elhokar turns on the gathered lighteyes and demands they swear publicly what they have already promised him privately: *today, Alethkar goes to war.* After a stunned silence Torol Sadeas is the first to pledge his sword against the traitorous parshmen, and the others follow him into the Vengeance Pact. Dalinar is glad of it; even in death Gavilar is giving them a reason to hold together. He cannot stand the stone face above him any longer and walks out into the corridor. Adolin hurries after him; Dalinar tells the boy to go back and swear for their house, then climbs alone toward his chambers.

In the upper halls he reaches into his pockets for a flask, then for the key — he has locked the rooms tight so Gavilar cannot sneak in for his bottles any more. His hands shake; he cannot get the key to turn; he cannot see straight. Then a voice begins to read, somewhere down the corridor. Feminine. Familiar. *You must find the most important words a man can say.* A dialogue about prophecy, about choice — *you cannot pick the destination, only the path.* The reader, gently, says she is beginning her writings; she calls the book a journey rather than a story; she had not been seeking answers or seeking herself, only *a journey.*

Dalinar turns from the lock and follows the voice. In the royal reading room he finds Jasnah standing over an enormous old tome, makeup smeared, eyes raw. *This is where my father got that quote* — the one he wrote as he died, which only a few of them know about. *An old text, ancient, once well regarded, associated with the Lost Radiants, so nobody references it any more.* She is hunting in the pages for a cipher. Dalinar sits, drained, and asks her to read it to him. She begins again from the first page and does not stop. People come in and bring her water; for once Dalinar asks for nothing else. He sits rapt, missing what the book is *about* even as he understands the words — a series of vignettes about a king who leaves his palace to walk a pilgrimage, optimistic, unpretentious, morals ambiguous. Eight hours pass and Jasnah reads to the last word; both of them weep. It is their farewell to Gavilar. She comes to him, they embrace, and she leaves.

He stays alone with the book, touching the lines of writing stamped into its cover. Adolin peeks in: they are planning expeditionary forces for the Shattered Plains, and they would value his input. *I must,* Dalinar whispers, *go on a journey.* — *Yeah,* Adolin agrees, mistaking him for the war, *it's a long way; might get some hunts in.* Something shifts in Dalinar. He cannot choose his end, but he can perhaps choose his path. Evi's words come back — *the Old Magic can change a person. Make something great of them.*

He stands straighter, takes Adolin by the shoulder, and tells him he has been a poor father these last years. He repeats it when Adolin tries to wave it away, raises his finger, and says aloud how proud he is of his sons; gloryspren spring up around Adolin. He promises to go to war with him *like we did when you were young — I will show you what it is to be a man of honour* — but first he must take an advance force, alone, to secure the Shattered Plains. He will march south, take ship to Dumadari, sail the Ocean of Origins, and make landfall at New Natanan. It is a sound plan, sound enough that when one of his ships is later *delayed* and he himself remains behind in port — sending the rest of his force on — no one will think it strange. He will swear his men and sailors to secrecy and travel a few months out of his way before continuing to the Shattered Plains. Evi had said the Old Magic could transform a man. It is about time he started trusting her.