Payday
POV: kaladin
Summary
The morning after his decision in the highstorm, Kaladin arises before the rest of Bridge Four and throws the barrack door open. When the men ignore him he hauls Moash bodily out into the sun as an example and informs them they will train every morning at running the bridge — so that on the final approach, with Parshendi arrows in the air, they can run faster. He intends that Bridge Four never lose another man. Sigzil, the clean-shaven Makabaki, asks what work they will do instead of rest. Leyten grumbles. Rock — a near-seven-foot Unkalaki (Horneater) — belly-laughs and calls him the crazy man who now thinks to lead them. Laughterspren bloom around the jeering men. Moash calls over to Gaz, who cheerfully confirms that bridgeleaders only command in the field; the crew breaks apart.
Kaladin does not back down. He sends Syl after Gaz to find his hiding place, then borrows a heavy plank from the carpenter's yard and spends the morning running it across camp on his own shoulder while the crew watches with bemused expressions. When he comes back exhausted, Rock is hefting the plank, having bet other bridgemen it must be a lightweight ringer. He pays them out a chip apiece. Kaladin dismisses the crew to lunch and tells them to be back in an hour for afternoon bridge duty and to assemble at last bell for kitchen cleanup — last one to arrive does the pots.
Two streets away he ducks into an alley and sinks against the wall, every muscle strained. Syl floats down beside his face. She has been wanting to tell him something important: she now knows what a lie is — she did not, a few weeks ago — and she now knows what death is. She is changing, and it scares her. She cannot remember anything more than a year back to when she first saw him, and a part of her says that if she leaves him she will lose herself. Kaladin tells her he too is scared to go onward and terrified to go back. She brightens, learns the word "sarcasm" by being on the receiving end of it from him, and then turns it gleefully back. He stands, gets her on his shoulder, and goes to eat and to pick up a few things from the markets before afternoon bridge duty.