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*Radiant* spins out of the confused guards as Renarin shouts a warning. Shallan hadn't considered that Mraize might wear Tanavast's face. The god — glowing, robed in golden colours from another age — drops the act, pulls a knife in a reverse grip, and lunges at Renarin. The vision-guards scatter at the sight. Rlain grabs a spear, falls in beside her, and warns her that he is wearing a femalen body and out of reach. Mraize plants a blowgun dart in Rlain's eye, sinks a knife into his throat as he stumbles, and shoves Radiant off balance.

She comes back at him from the side — *Adolin had taught her that in a multi-attacker fight, combatants would expose themselves to take out one enemy* — and pays Mraize's knife through her forearm to land her anti-light knife square in his chest. He smiles around the blood on his lips. *Well executed, little knife.* The blade won't kill him outright; anti-light only activates if he heals before it evaporates from his veins. She advances anyway. He keeps talking.

*Do you even know what we're doing in here?* She does, she says: he is looking for Mishram's prison. *Why, though?* He turns it into a lesson: this is the realm of the gods, where Odium resides. Odium knows exactly where her prison is. He has not led anyone there. *Why hasn't he?* The pieces fall into place for her — *Odium wants her imprisoned. He's afraid of her.* *Yes*, Mraize says. He does not know why. But you learn to respect what the greatest predator fears. *Master Thaidakar is smart, little knife. Maybe the smartest man I've ever met. He knows how dangerous Odium is, and is legitimately worried about him escaping.* The Ghostbloods want leverage. *Help me.*

She nearly does — until she hardens. *I'm here to kill you.* He warns her again. She presses back: she knows precisely why Odium is afraid. Adonalsium, the god of gods, was murdered by his own creations. *Sometimes the parents' greatest fear should be their children.* She lunges; Mraize has been milking his wound and flings her aside. Radiant herself, in physical form, manifests from glowing mist and seizes him from behind. Shallan kicks him in the stomach and raises her knife.

Then her own voice whispers in her ear. *See it done, Shallan. See him ended. And kill Dalinar, who is always so judgmental of you.* Formless — herself with a face of swirling black mist — steps out of the shadows. *Dalinar is your father now. Navani your mother. You will hurt them, as you've hurt everyone else.* Shallan freezes; Radiant vanishes; Mraize drops. *Glys, Tumi — pull me out!* She is yanked back into the Spiritual Realm churn, then held by Pattern and Testament both, while Glys and Tumi quietly reset the vision so Dalinar will find nothing wrong. Veil tells her it is all right — she has grown enough to *watch* this time. She holds for a minute, hears a child cry somewhere in the back of her own mind, then turns away and breathes. Formless' grip on her is fading. She does not yet know what she is. Perhaps, she thinks, a person with a chronic cough does not need a reason for the cough to come back.

Outside the tent, Dalinar and the others stride through the camp with the oath echoing inside them, waiting for the tenth to be found. The bond is real even if his own felt only like a memory, and he means to keep it because oaths are the most powerful thing he knows. They find Taln tending the horses — hulking, but flabby, tunic askew, belt too loose. *The horse keeper?* Ishar scoffs. *Wasn't he dismissed from the front lines?* Jezrien reluctantly explains: Taln's soul is warped from an *attempt to kill Cultivation*. Nale is undeterred. *He deserves a second chance. It will be good for us to have someone who is not a king among us.*

Taln sees Nale glowing and laughs in surprise — *I thought you hated Surges* — then meets Tanavast eye to eye without bowing. *You destroyed an entire world. My grandmother's world.* Honor regrets it and vows on his own power that he will not allow it here. *Well — even gods deserve a second chance.* Offered immortality, Taln declines: *I have heard too many stories. Living out eons doesn't suit men well. Though if you have a pair of sandals I wouldn't mind those.* Nale holds up the small disc — *if you join us, you can solve the problems you've often complained about* — and Taln stops and thinks for two long minutes in the rain. *If not me, you'll find another?* Yes. *Then I'll do it.* He swears for the people of the land, not for Honor. Ishar seals the binding with the last oath.

Back in the tent, with Dalinar's anchor about to start decaying, Tanavast turns to the circle of ten and pulls a glowing splinter from his own chest. Each Herald's outstretched hand catches one in turn, and a Honorblade resolves there. Dalinar grips Navani's hand and takes Kalak's Blade. Through it he feels Connections to every Desolation that will follow — a stable anchor that he hopes can carry them all the way to the day Honor dies.