Gibletish
POV: dalinar
Summary
In the cold under-lit corridor outside the king's feasting hall Dalinar catches Sadeas alone between two pillars and pitches him the joint plateau assault he has spent weeks pitching the lesser highprinces. Combined armies on the Tower large enough to bracket the Parshendi in numbers no Alethi highprince has yet brought to the Plains; large enough, perhaps, to break the Parshendi field force in a single afternoon and end the war that has run six years longer than anyone expected.
Sadeas listens with the polite half-attention of a man who has eaten too much pork and would rather be back at his cup. He is also, Dalinar notices, interested. He counts the numbers in his head out loud. He asks the right questions about supply lines and staging plateaus. He raises an objection that Dalinar has an answer for. Then, as is the way of these conversations between them, he names a price. He wants Dalinar to publicly support his ongoing investigation — and he wants the Plate from one of the next Tower gemhearts to go to him personally.
Dalinar counter-offers. He will give Sadeas the investigation support. He offers, instead of the Plate, a Shardblade from the next won set to Renarin — the son who has never held one and probably never will fight in one. *The invalid?* Sadeas says. *What would you care, you already have Plate.* He shrugs, agrees, tells Dalinar to send the details by messenger in the morning. He has missed too much of the feast already; he has a duchess to dance with. Dalinar watches him go down the corridor with the gold-embroidered scarf trailing behind him and feels — for the first time in a very long time — something that might be hope.