“Odium specifically made your kin extinct,” Raboniel said. “You are the last. A distinction that you should appreciate, for the way it makes you unique.”

“I do not wish uniqueness,” Venli said. “I wish to keep this malen alive and enjoy his company. I have served well in several capacities, to multiple Fused. I demand this compensation.”

Raboniel hummed to Derision. Venli panicked, and nearly lost her will—but Timbre, always watching, pulsed to Conceit. A rhythm of Odium, but the best counterpart to Resolve. The rhythm Venli needed to continue to express now. She did so, humming it, as she didn’t trust herself to speak.

“Very well,” Raboniel said, picking up her papers to begin reading again. “Your Passion does you credit. He is yours. Be certain he doesn’t cause problems, for I will lay them at your charge.”

Venli hummed to Tribute, then quickly retreated. Inside, Timbre pulsed to one of the normal rhythms. She seemed in pain, as if using one of the wrong rhythms had been hard for her. But they’d done it. Like she’d freed the Windrunner’s family.

Timbre pulsed. Freedom. That was to be her next oath, Venli realized. To free those who had been taken unjustly. She almost said a new oath out loud, right there, but Timbre pulsed in warning.

So she returned to her rooms before going to Rlain. She shut the door to her quarters, then whispered the words.

“I will seek freedom for those in bondage,” she said, then waited. Nothing happened. Had it worked?

A distant sensation struck her, a femalen voice, so very far away—but thrumming with the pure rhythm of Roshar.

These words, it said, are not accepted.

Not accepted? Venli sank down into a chair. Timbre pulsed to the Rhythm of Confusion. But in her gemheart, Venli realized she knew the reason. She’d just watched a child trapped in a cage be hauled off by Raboniel’s servants. It seemed obvious, now that she considered.

She couldn’t honestly speak those words. Not when she was concerned with freeing Rlain primarily because she wanted another listener to confide in. Not when she was willing to ignore the need of a child locked in a cage.

If she wanted to honestly progress as a Radiant, she’d need to do as Rlain had said and start thinking about someone other than herself. And it was beyond time for her to begin treating her powers with the respect they deserved.

In other circumstances, I would be fascinated by this sand to the point of abandoning all other rational pursuits. What is it? Where did it come from?

—From Rhythm of War, page 13

Finally, at long last, Navani heard Kaladin’s voice.

I’m sorry, Brightness, he said, his voice transmitted via the Sibling to Navani. I collapsed when I got back last night, and fell asleep. I didn’t intentionally keep you waiting.

Upon arriving at the chamber of scholars in the morning, Navani had discovered—via the Sibling—that she had slept through what had nearly been the end of their resistance. She had then waited several interminable hours to hear from the Windrunner.

“Don’t apologize,” Navani whispered, standing in her now customary place, her hands behind her, touching the line of crystal on the wall as she surveyed her working scholars. Guards stood at the door, and the strange insane Fused sat in her place by the far wall, but no one interfered directly with Navani. “You did what you had to—and you did well.”

I failed, Kaladin said.

“No,” Navani said softly, but firmly. “Highmarshal, your job is not to save the tower. Your job is to buy me time enough to reverse what has been done. You didn’t fail. You accomplished something incredible, and because of it we can still fight.”

His reply was long in coming. Thank you, he said, his voice bolstered. I needed to hear those words.

“They are true,” Navani said. “Given enough time, I’m confident I can flush the tower of the enemy’s Light, then instead prime it with the proper kind.”

It came down to the nature of Stormlight, Voidlight, and the way the Sibling worked. Navani needed to take a crash course in Light, and figure out exactly what had gone wrong.

Breaking the node seems to have made things worse, Kaladin said. Healing takes longer now. A Fused hit me with a knife, and it took a good ten minutes before my Stormlight fully healed the wound.

“I doubt that was due to the breaking of the node,” Navani said. “Raboniel was able to corrupt the Sibling further before you stopped her.”

Understood. I do feel bad I couldn’t protect the node, but Brightness, I think doing so would be impossible. If the others get discovered, we’ll have to destroy them too.

“I agree,” she said. “Do what you have to in order to give me more time. Anything else to report?”

Oh, right! Kaladin said. I couldn’t get to the Oathgates in time. I thought I’d be able to easily climb down to the ground floor, but it was a longer process than I imagined.

“You didn’t fly?”

Those Lashings don’t work, Brightness. I need to use Adhesion to make handholds. I’ll need to practice more—or find another way up and down—if you want me to try to reach the Oathgates. Regardless, I did snatch some spanreeds for you. Full sets, it turns out, twelve of them.

Syl has been inspecting them, and she thinks she knows the reason they work. Brightness, the spren inside have been corrupted, like Renarin’s spren. The rubies work on Voidlight now, as you suspected, and these spren must be the reason.

Navani let out a long breath. This had been one of her guesses; she hadn’t wanted it proven. If she needed to acquire corrupted spren, she was unlikely to be able to get any fabrials working without Raboniel knowing.

“Rest,” she told Kaladin, “and keep your strength up. I will figure out a path to reverse what is happening here.”

We need to warn Dalinar, Kaladin said. Maybe we could get half of one of these spanreeds to him.

“I don’t know how we’d accomplish that,” Navani said.

Well, I guess it depends on how far down the tower’s defenses go. It’s possible I could leap off a ledge, fall far enough to get outside the suppression, then activate my Lashings. But that would leave you without access to a Radiant. Honestly, I’m loath to suggest it. I don’t know if I could leave, considering how things are.

“Agreed,” Navani said. “For now, it’s more important that I have you here with me. Keep watch for Lift; the Sibling has lost track of her, but she was awake like you are.”

Understood, he said.

“Are you otherwise well? Do you have food?”

Yeah. I have another of my men helping me. He’s not a Radiant, but he’s a good man.

“The mute?” Navani guessed.

You know Dabbid?

“We’ve met. Give him my best.”

Will do, Brightness. Really though, I don’t think I can rest. I need to practice climbing the outside of the tower—but even with practice, I’m worried I won’t be fast enough. What if a node is discovered on the fortieth floor? It would take me hours to climb that high.

“A valid worry,” she said. “I’ll see if I can find a solution. Let’s talk tomorrow around this time.”

Understood.

She pushed off the wall and strolled through the room. She didn’t want to be seen talking to herself; surely the singers knew to watch for signs that someone was Radiant. She conversed softly with Rushu, explaining her plans for the next phase of time-wasting.