#ahhhhh the most batshit chapter of all

[shipaholic]

Omens Universe, Chapter 14, Part 1

Warnings! Asphyxiation, child endangerment.

Link to next part at the end. (From the beginning)

(last part)

(chrono)

---

Chapter 14

Oh.

Shit.

Zadkiel grabbed Adam. His hands engulfed the boy’s shoulders. Had he always been this tiny? Focus, focus -

“Adam, reality will listen to you. You are in control. Anything that you believe will come true.” Desperation tried to worm into his voice. He held it at bay. “Listen to me. You can hear me talking, right? That means there’s air. You can breathe, you just have to believe there’s air. Come on now.”

Spacedog was hollering. Adam clutched the dog to his chest, painfully tight. His arms were as pale as death.

Zadkiel made a strangled noise. He pulled Adam into a bear hug and dived.

Proxima Centauri B rushed up to meet him. He was breaking most laws of physics right now. He punched through the atmosphere, and didn’t bother to slow his descent as they streaked to the ground, miles of hard earth and marbled mud coming in fast -

Zadkiel burned through the alien sky, flaming like a meteor, and pasted himself on the rocky landscape.

His one safety protocol was to make sure Adam landed on top of him.

With a small explosion, Crowley and Aziraphale were flung apart like rag dolls.

Spacedog wriggled free and tried to lick Adam’s face. The space helmet got in the way. Spacedog pushed it into Adam’s cheek and frantically licked the glass. He whined, a piteous, unbroken sound.

The sprawled bodies did not move.

Then Adam’s face gave a twitch.

“Stop that, you silly Spacedog.”

Spacedog yapped his head off and ran around in circles.

Adam flexed his fingers, experimentally. They still held the Book.

Crowley and Aziraphale realised they had escaped being discorporated. To their dismay, this meant they had to move. They managed to roll over and flop towards Adam and each other. Sitting up could wait.

“You alright, Adam?” Crowley said without moving his lips.

Adam got the gist, even with none of the consonants. “Yeah. Thanks. It’s cool that you did that without being in a rocket.”

“Hell yeah,” Crowley managed.

“I’m so sorry, my dear boy,” Aziraphale said to Adam, just slightly more coherently than Crowley. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“He’s fine, children bounce,” Crowley said, his eyes closed.

Aziraphale tutted. “You’re incorrigible,” he said. Or tried to. It proved a little too difficult in his current state.

Crowley cracked an eye open. “Did you say I’m ineffable?”

“In. Corri. Gible.”

“Good. We don’t use that kind of language in front of the kid.”

Adam sat up, wincing. Spacedog leapt into his arms and tried once more to mash the fishbowl helmet into his face.

~*~

When they’d all recovered a bit, they took in their surroundings.

Crowley had been to the Grand Canyon. Proxima Centauri B was like that, but stranger. Its winding rock tunnels and quarries were an odd, half-melted brown. The sun was low in the sky, either setting or rising, no-one was sure. It was a shockingly pinkish-red, in a night sky tinged a deeper, richer purple than any twilight on Earth.

Crowley tried to appreciate it. It was home, now. And presumably, forever.

Perhaps he just wasn’t in the mood. They were all a bit on-edge. Aziraphale kept sneaking glances at Adam to check he was still breathing. The damn green dog seemed perfectly at home, but that just put Crowley in a worse mood.

He skulked at the back of the group, hands in his pockets. Aziraphale fell back and stood beside him.

“You changed back,” he said, nodding to Crowley’s outfit.

“Eh, yeah. White was never my colour.”

“I suspect it isn’t mine, either,” Aziraphale said, softly.

Crowley’s gaze slipped over the brown and blue and gold of him.

“No. You’ve a bit more character than that,” he said.

Aziraphale smiled up at him from under his lashes. There was a flicker of intent to that look. Heat crawled up Crowley’s neck.

Adam giggled nearby as Spacedog swam laps around his head. They turned to watch him.

“Do you think he’s still the Antichrist, out here?” Aziraphale said.

“Is that a, strand the King of Spain in outer space, is he still a King, kind of thing?”

“I suppose that’s an interesting question. Although I meant it more in a, does he still have his powers out here, kind of thing.”

Crowley’s eyes lingered on the frolicking dog. He sighed. “I think he probably does.”

Aziraphale looked grim. “Poor old Earth,” he murmured.

Crowley shook his head. “If we’d just got on the portal and not let him yammer on about the dog…”

“I didn’t think,” Aziraphale said, sadly.

“Me neither. And I’ve got no excuse. Beelzebub briefed us on that hellhound for an entire Thursday afternoon.”

They watched the boy and dog in silence.

“I suppose it is the Earth that will still - ahm. Be affected by his powers?”

“How do you mean?”

“There’s no chance he’s brought Armageddon with him?”

They stared at each other. They peered at the sky. No sudden rains of blood or other omens appeared.

“Nah, reckon it’s probably still going to happen on Earth.”

Aziraphale looked miserable.

Crowley put a hand on his arm. “Hey. All we could do was get out.”

“I know.”

“Don’t torture yourself.”

Aziraphale mustered a weak smile.

They watched Adam rooting around for a stick to throw for Spacedog. He found a sturdy one right at his feet that was the right size and hurled it across the marsh. Spacedog took off after it, yipping. It was unclear how, in the helmet, he was going to bring it back.

“There isn’t any wood on this planet,” Aziraphale said, carefully.

Crowley nodded glumly. “Guess that confirms it. Reality still bends to his will.” He thought for a moment. “Come to think of it, I doubt this planet has much of an atmosphere.”

“Mmm, yes. That should have been our first clue.”[1]

“I think a regular child would have frozen to death while he was floating in space.” And/or exploded. Crowley felt he’d seen something like that in a film once.

“...This wasn’t a very child-friendly plan, was it?”

“You’re just noticing this now? We kidnapped an eleven-year-old from his parents.”

“You talked me into it.”

“Of course I did. Demon.”

“A temptation worthy of a commendation,” Aziraphale said, with only a trace of a scolding.

Crowley turned and slipped his arms around Aziraphale’s neck.

“They’ll have to put it in a cannon and fire it into space. Hope it reaches me in a few thousand years.”

Aziraphale chuckled. It was a wonderfully warm, wry sound. It always sounded like he knew he was getting away with something. Crowley watched the tips of his hair stain pink in the alien sun.

Suddenly, Aziraphale’s face fell.

“Crowley, we don’t have to teach him maths, do we?”

~*~

Half an hour later, the euphoria wore off.

Adam trudged across the squishy, marshy ground, investigating his new territory. Spacedog trotted at his heels. Aziraphale and Crowley stood and kept an eye on him from a distance. It was nice, like an amiable family walk across a muddy field in late September.

And then, like an amiable family walk across a muddy field in late September, the mood soured. The mud that had been fun to tromp through sunk through the soles of the walking shoes that were supposed to be waterproof. The rustic landscape grew dreary. That cow had a mean look in its eye.

In other words, it dawned on Adam that he hadn’t eaten for hours, the alien planet all looked the same for miles around, there was a shocking dearth of cinemas, sweet shops or comic books in this area of the galaxy, he would never see his family again, and he had very recently almost died. Also, he forgot to bring snacks.

A suspicion had brewed at the back of his mind for a few hours now. It bubbled away, growing, gaining certainty. Now, grubby, cold and hungry, it was time to ask.

“Are you two actually aliens?”

Aziraphale and Crowley were having a murmured grown-up conversation behind him. They stopped. Their faces went blank in the way grown-up’s faces went when they were thinking how to lie to him.

“Perhaps it’s time to drop the pretence,” Aziraphale whispered.

Crowley frowned. “It’s not like the truth is any less weird.”

“I dislike lying, on general principle.”

“I’m in favour of lying, on general principle. Let’s compromise and say nothing.”

“You know full well that would be a lie of omission. Don’t think I’m going to start falling for tricks like that after six thousand years -”

“Would you both just stop talking?” Adam said loudly.

They shut up.

“You’re always talking rubbish and I don’t understand it.”

Adam frowned. He held the Book under one arm. For a moment, he heard its pages rustle.

“My whole life is just everyone talking rubbish at me, all the time. Nothing anyone’s ever told me made any sense. Like the stuff about how I was going to destroy the world. And then you two, with the alien stuff. I just believed it because everything was so weird, it’s not like aliens could be any weirder. The only person I’ve ever met who seemed like they properly knew what was going on was that woman back in the car. She’s the one who left me this.” He hefted the Book in his arms. “I’ve got more proper answers from this than I’ve got from anyone, ever.”

“What is that?”

Aziraphale took a step towards him.

Adam’s arms tightened around the Book. Spacedog leapt in front of him and growled.

Aziraphale blinked and halted. Crowley held out an arm.

A chill wind picked up.

“That woman was the only person who seemed like she wanted to help me and tell me what was really going on, and she said I shouldn’t leave. She said it was a mistake to leave. And I didn’t listen. And you zapped her away.” Adam pointed at Crowley.

Crowley inched backwards. “Hang on, I was under a lot of stress…”

“And you grew wings and flew around that bookshop. Aliens don’t do that. You didn’t look like an alien, back then, you looked more like…”

Adam stopped.

“I shouldn’t have come with you,” he muttered.

Aziraphale and Crowley stared at each other.

“You remember you forced us to bring you, right?” Crowley pointed out. “Just saying.”

Aziraphale frowned and nudged him.

The wind whipped at them. Adam was only in a t-shirt. He wasn’t cold.

“I want to go home,” he said.

It was not the lament of a lost child. The words resonated around the landscape. Aziraphale and Crowley felt them down to the bones.

A whirring pulse sounded from high above them, faintly. Nobody glanced up, but a prickle of warning ran up their necks.

“I don’t have to be here. You said reality will listen to me. She said the same thing. In this book.”

An emerald-green spotlight shone down on Adam. The wind became a roaring gale. It whipped Adam’s t-shirt. He stared down Aziraphale and Crowley through eyes that were suddenly dark under the livid green light.

Crowley squinted into the sky.

He said, “What.”

Aziraphale kept his eyes on Adam. Carefully, as though the boy were a skittish animal, he raised his hands towards him.

“Adam, we were not honest with you. I apologise. It is our fault you are in this mess. There are forces at work that it was too difficult to explain to you. You see -”

“Angel, you should take a look at this,” Crowley interrupted.

“Not now, Crowley!”

“Aziraphale, it’s a goddamned flying saucer.”

Aziraphale looked up.

A round, whirring alien spacecraft hovered in the sky above them.

“What,” he said.

Adam stood in the disco-glow of the green spotlight. Furious pulses of wind flapped down on him. He met Crowley’s eyes with a long, hard stare. Spacedog’s hackles rose.

Crowley blinked first. He edged back, one hand on Aziraphale’s arm.

The flying saucer whirred and spun. In a series of loops, it meandered down to the surface of Proxima Centauri B. It let out a gust of steam as it settled like a soggy cake.

A door opened in its side with a hiss.

A ramp descended, and three aliens got out. Two of them were green. The third was a small hump with wheels and an egg-whisker sticking out of it. It quickly got stuck in a marshy patch and made some angry distress noises that the other two ignored.

Adam stood like a king greeting foreign dignitaries as the remaining two aliens walked over to him.

“Hello,” he said.

The alien leader, who had a face like a duck,[2] approached first. “Adam Dowling?”

Adam squinted up at her. The spotlight was still blinding. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“All right, sir. I believe you called for a taxi service.” The alien looked slightly put out to be used as such, but she hid it well. “We’re here to take you back to Earth.”

“Erm,” Crowley said. “Hang on.”

Everyone ignored him, to his relief. He had no idea what he would have said next.

Adam followed the aliens back to their saucer. The slightly taller alien helped the pepper-pot alien back up from where it had tipped over in the mud.

“Wait - Adam -” Aziraphale called.

Crowley put an arm around him. Neither moved to follow. Without speaking, they conceded that this was going to happen whether or not they found it plausible.

The three aliens shuffled back up the gangplank. The round, beeping alien left a long streak of mud as it trundled inside the spaceship. Adam and Spacedog walked behind them.

A scrap of paper flapped loose from inside the Book. The wind carried it directly to Aziraphale. He caught it reflexively.

Adam reached the top of the gangplank and vanished without a backward glance. The spaceship door sealed shut.

The spaceship made a Whomm Whomm Whomm noise and floated into the air. It wobbled a bit, and then streaked into the stratosphere, leaving a green comet trail behind it.

The howling gale abruptly blew itself out. The planet’s surface was deafeningly quiet.

Nothing broke the calm but a tiny green speck in the sky, already winking out of sight.

---

[1] When you only breathe out of habit, you stop thinking about things like oxygen.

[2] “Ducks,” Crowley almost blurted, as a Pavlovian response.

(Link to next part)

[nightblink]

Blink Reads Oathbringer - Chapters 121-122 and Epilogue

And so it is that we come to the end.

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Twenty-One – Ideals

Oh, hello Moash. How are you doing, now that you've accomplished what you set out to do?

'Shouldn't Moash have felt pleasure? Or at least satisfaction? Instead, killing Elhokar had only made him feel… cold.' Yep, there it is. Cold. Like your heart, asshole.

[winces] And of course by this point the Fused have made many of the humans of Kholinar slaves, to clear out the battle-rubble of where they once lived.

Note: confirmed in-book that there are only nine orders of Fused (which means they're probably missing access to one of the Surges)

What is in the palace that they want

NO. YOU KEEP THAT MEMORY. YOU SUFFER THE MEMORY OF HOW KALADIN LOOKED WHEN YOU STABBED ELHOKAR.

Looks like there's at least some of the Fused who are trying to catch up on what they're missed in the past four thousand years.

“You have killed a king. Would you do the same to a god?” Oh maaaaaaaaan, you know where one of the insane Heralds is. Jezrien, if that sapphire is any indication (and if it has any meaning beyond just being a gemstone) but the gold-white metal sounds important too. Oh this is not going to go well.

---

I love Navani. 'EVERYONE BETWEEN ME AND DALINAR BETTER MOVE.'

That has to be a little hilarious to see, though, because while Kaladin's only just a little bit taller than Dalinar, Lopen is short. They make for rather lopsided crutches.

SHOO, BOYS. Navani please

Ahhh, that's how he thought to trap the Thrill to begin with. Remembering Taravangian's words helped capture it in the end, but Navani is the one who inspired the plan in the first place. If anyone can manage to find out why the King's Drop(/Honor's Drop) was able to capture the Thill, it's her.

'Something unconventional, perhaps uncomfortable.” “Anything. What is it?” “I want you to teach me how to read.” OH HOLY SHIT. DUDE. DUDE. WHAT EVEN IS THIS THIS IS FANTASTIC

---

[winces] Shallan is still very Not Well – and it is the true Shallan that is the most tired of course, because she is the core, and right now, it's just easier for her to be her masks.

At least she's apparently going to actually dedicate herself to her wardship now? She won't flee?

But at the same time, the inside of her mind is spinning, spinning, spinning, the two mask-personalities flickering and overlapping her and I was right to worry because she's not settling as she calms down and lets the adrenaline and battle furor fade away.

They are going to have to pull out all the stops to explain the day's events to the Azish, admittedly. With any luck, Queen Fen can help them with that.

'He skidded a little as he fell to his knees beside her, then raised his hands – only to hesitate, as if confronted by something very fragile.' He can tell. He was going in for a relieved, exhausted hug and maybe a follow-up kiss but he can see she's masking.

Flicker, flicker, flicker, 'Adolin searched her eyes. She bled from one, to the other, and back. A moment of Veil. A moment of Radiant. Shallan peeking through– Adolin's hand tightened around her own.' Excuse me while I go scream about this, this moment of quiet worry and understanding and him knowing Shallan, the real Shallan, picking her out from her shields against the world without even a word. An anchor for her to steady on.

“Most of the blood isn't mine. Well, I guess it is. But I'm feeling better.” Oh my god, way to understate 'I almost died but at least the internal injuries are healed?'

Ahhhhh, and we get a moment of pure, quiet physical contact as they hold each other on the wall in all the aftermath of the blood and fear and chaos, and it's just the two of them taking comfort in simply holding each other and being and it's lovely-

And then when he quips to lighten the mood a little of course that's when Kaladin lands not far way and Veil barges up to the forefront. And the way she looks at/is responding to Kaladin's presence… [winces] Shiiiit, that’s- that’s not a good blush from Adolin; he sees where she’s looking, sees Veil-Shallan’s immediate interest in Kaladin and abrupt dismissal of him. That’s an embarrassed, hurt, I’ve-been-deluding-myself blush. Piling that on top of his already-low self image right now, that's… haaaah. I wouldn't be surprised if he started trying to back away – women have a tendency to leave him, after all, so why wouldn't this relationship end up the same, no matter how much I love her?

I'm surprised that Radiant is on Veil's side of preferring Kaladin now, considering that she was the mask-personality that preferred spending time with Adolin in the first place. That seems almost like a switch that's Convenient Because Drama.

!!!! Shallan, exhausted and overwhelmed as she is, is managing to assert herself?! 'They were not her. She was occasionally them. But they were not her.'

You have done some healing.

---

'She attuned Appreciation anyway. An old rhythm. She loved being able to hear those again at will – she could attune either old or new, and could make her eyes red, except when she drew in stormlight.' I'm so glad that we have a Listener Radiant – I mean, I'd hoped it was going to be Eshonai, but all the same – LISTENER/SINGER RADIANT I'M SO STOKED. She can hide herself among the Singers and Fused, too, keep them thinking that she's a Regal while she observes them and listens to what Timbre has to say. (I'm betting she's a Willshaper, but I could be wrong…? Stoneward is a possibility as well, since those two and Dustbringer were the ones that were missing from Dalinar's Radiant-count if we don't include Taln as possibly 'counting'.)

Yeaaaah, I thought it was impossible too, but it looks like that's not the case.

[hums] The Singers on the ship make some very good arguments, and those same arguments are probably happening all over the world now that the Singers' minds are awakened again, and not trapped in Slaveform. After the intial 'what's going on' assessment, we haven't heard what the rest of the Singers around the world are doing.

“I know who you were. Keep working, and let me tell you of the Listeners.” Yesssss, spread the songs and history of your people! Keep them alive!

---

Nightblood. Nightblood, not everything has to be destroyed.

How the hell is 'Obedience' one of the Dustbringers' Divine Attributes when you have Nale saying of the Skybreakers “The very reason we swear to something external is because we acknowledge that our own judgment is flawed.” I mean, come on.

You say that Ishar survived with his mind intact, but isn't he the one going batshit crazy and calling himself a god/priest and wanting to kill everyone? That doesn't sound all that 'intact' to me.

“The law is made by men, so it is not perfect either. It is not perfection we seek, for perfection is impossible. It is instead consistency.” The Skybreakers continue to confuse the hell out of me.

Well, there's the Ideal. Next up, cleansing the Shin of their false leaders. Hopefully that won't be as bloody a task as the last leader-culling spree you went on was.

“You may find him a harsh master.” “He is a good man, Nin-son-God.” “That is precisely why.” ………..fair.

Aaaaand he's still going to train with the Skybreakers, or at least with Nale, despite the fact that they're technically on opposite sides now. That's going to cause some interesting clashes in the next book, I'll bet.

Nightblood, please

---

Of course someone was making tea. There is always time to make tea.

[winces] I'm… not sure how long it'll take you to find him, Shallan. He's probably not doing too well right about now, no matter how well he may look like he's managing.

'She'd seen how envious he'd been as he watched those Fused, with their flowing robes, moving like the wind.' He was probably more jealous that they got to fly everywhere than of the robes. He does like to stay aloft. The skies are Kaladin's domain.

Lots and lots of dust, though he wasn't so much fighting a bag of sand as something much more solid.

Ouch. She put his arm around her shoulders herself, when usually he's the one who's super-tactile. That alone should sound Warning bells going off! Something's wrong! for her, and he's not responding to her efforts at being lighthearted, either.

'He took a deep breath, and removed his arm from her shoulders.' Fuuuuuuuuuuuck. Warning bells heightened to Serious Alarms.

“I've decided,” Adolin said, “to step back.”' Aaaaaaaand there it is. I'm honestly not surprised. He's hurting and you can tell? so easily? But this is that crux point, that If-you-love-something-let-it-go moment of ‘I’ll step aside without another word if this is what will make you happy (even if it breaks my heart)', and he's backing that up with his body language with the way he goes all stiff and tall, like he's bracing himself and doesn't want her to see him falter.

[buries face in hands] There he goes with his concept-to-words getting screwed up between brain and mouth and I feel you on that, man, I really do, but oh my god Shallan please take him apart for that “I'm going to let him have you.” sentence.

“I'm holding you back. I see the way you two look at each other. I don't want you to keep forcing yourself to spend time with me because you feel sorry for me.” HELLO SELF-ESTEEM ISSUES. Even disregarding that, though, that's… okay, it's really dumb that he's not asking her her feelings on Kaladin first, but also it's really selfless of him, trying not to put any pressure on her about it.

I can't keep quoting here or I'm just going to end up going through the entire thing line by line-

THANK YOU FOR RIPPING HIM ON THAT LINE SHALLAN, there is no one who decides who 'gets' you because you are not a prize, but also please bash him over the head with the fact that this is your choice, not what attraction he's convinced himself that he's seen between Veil-You and Kaladin

….it's a good thing that she paused for breath because he'd never get a word in otherwise. That tirade definitely counts as smacking him upside the head with her honest opinion.

OOOP THERE'S THE PHYSICAL CONTACT COMING BACK (along with probably as much of an admittance of his inner weakness as he's going to give). And yet he still asks her are you sure, because he is going to Respect Her Choice and he'll be damned if he doesn't double check to make sure he's getting what she's saying exactly right, for both their sakes (because damn if it doesn't look like he wants to pin her against the alley wall right about now)

Still voices his worry for her concerning Veil and Radiant, and tbf she needs someone who will do that, and who will also be there to remind her who she really is if she starts slipping away and losing herself again.

“But that's the thing, Shallan. I don't want anyone. I want you.” [clutches chest] Be still my beating heart, but I'm such a sucker for things like this.

Ah, and now they get to have a heated makeout session in the alley. Good, they have some passion to work out and Adolin has some physical contact and dumbass words to make up for.

---

It is going to be a big effort to get the thunderclast's corpse out of that high tier of the city. Maybe once the next highstorm renews the spheres, the Radiants can help take care of that.

Oh good, Kaladin's not feeling bitter or jealous either THANK YOU SANDERSON. THANK YOU FOR NOT MAKING THIS A CLICHE LOVE TRIANGLE

Syl. Syl you can Kaladin need to sit down and have a Talk if this is how you're going to continue to be about his relationships both platonic and possibly-romantic.

“I don't think I loved her, Syl. I felt… something. A lightening of my burdens when I was near her. She reminds me of someone.” [cups hands] THAT'S CALLED PLATONIC LOVE, KAL, AND ALSO FRIENDSHIP and he's actually acknowledging that thank you once again Sanderson for having Kaladin realize the difference between Friendship and Romantic Love

And now I'm going to go sob over the memory of Tien thankyouverymuch

“He was your first god, before you turned to Honor.” HMMM. So. Perhaps the demise of the planet that the Rosharan-humans originated on was related to the fact that Odium was their only shard? If they came here and found Honor (and likely Cultivation as well), that could mean that the original Radiants weren't Radiants as we know them at all, but bonded to Voidspren of Odium.

'You could protect your home. You could kill to defend the people inside. But what if the people you killed were only trying to get back what was rightfully theirs?… Could anyone really be expected to let go because of what ancient people had done, no matter how dishonorable their actions? Who did he fight? Who did he protect?' Not easy questions, not with the humans having been on Roshar for so long at this point that they even forgot their own origins, and they're questions that're going to require much, much more in-depth assessment in the next book from every POV character we get.

That's… given Dalinar's vision, I'd thought the Recreance a single event, but that makes much more sense.

“The oaths are about perception, Syl. You confirmed that. The only thing that matters is whether or not we are confident that we're obeying our principles.” Hence why you couldn't say the Fourth Ideal. You couldn't say it and be confident that you meant it, much less could follow it. It also explains how the Ideals within each order are similar at their core but differ in small ways, like how Teft's Third Ideal differs from yours.

It is going to end up a little bit messy, but I imagine that that's why there's seven books left.

Cultural note: kuma = crushed lavis grain and spices, served with flatbread; Kaladin counts them as travel rations

“It doesn't change us, Teft. We're still who we are.” And that's the point. Broken people, the lot of the Radiants, and now Teft has a new perspective on that reality that he didn't before. He'll understand Kaladin a little better now, knowing that even storming Stormblessed is as broken as he is. And he has Bridge Four to help him, as Kaladin does. They're not alone in this.

“We lift the bridge together, Teft, and we carry it.”

I'm not crying you're crying

---

Did the Heralds disappear off somewhere during the battle? We haven't seen hide nor hair of Ash or Taln since the Radiant-count Dalinar did before everyone split and the POVs started flipping like popcorn.

Oh hello Taravangian. FUCK OFF.

He's fairly intelligent today, and Dalinar's at least starting to see a glimpse of his true colours – but only as much as Taravangian's choosing to reveal.

!!!! You think you've found Battah in Kharbranth? Ohhhhh, is that how you found out that the Dustbringers would be the most receptive to the plan of the Diagram, you found their patron Herald

---

Oh hello Moash. FUCK OFF.

Haaaaaaah. That old madman was Jezrien, I was right. Well, not anymore, though whatever that knife is that Moash is using to murder him, it's doing something – the dark smoke coming from the stab wound makes me think if Nightblood, but that glow at the pommel insinuates that they have him trapped there. Doing that should be possible, since the Heralds are a variety of Cognitive Shadow, but how the Fused/Odium figured out that not only could it be done but how, I'm not sure. Considering that they didn't want to do it themselves, though, there's probably consequences.

---

Lopen has a spren (at least one that's attached itself to him) and he plays hide-and-seek with it (him?) and teaches him rude gestures. Should we have expected anything less?

Dru-! Sanderson, you had better bring Drehy and Skar back alive; let them have a reunion, and a happy one at that.

'Kaladin had entered, glowing softly, speaking with some of the surgeons. Knowing Kaladin, he was probably telling them how to do their jobs.' Truer words have likely never been thought, Lopen, and you well know it. The poor surgeons probably have years upon years more training than Kaladin does, but he is glowing, so of course they're listening and nodding along. Glowing does that to people.

Haaaaaah. That's the thing, Lopen – just because you have an optimistic outlook doesn't mean that you're not broken. That looks different for each individual. Just because you're relatively sane or stable doesn't mean you're not cracked through.

JOURNEY BEFORE P A N C A K E S. Lopen have you been hanging out with Lift. You have, haven't you.

OMG. Of course he'd been wanting to save it for a dramatic moment. Hah – that's not quite how it works, Lopen. That is the moment to use your double-rude-gesture, though.

Kaladin plz

---

Ahhh, and now we get back to the Heralds. That answers where they were during Chapter 120, though. 'Talenel'Elin had broken like the rest of them.' He just took longer than the rest of you -  the hardiest soul of the ten.

Uhhhhh, Ash, I don't know if you've been keeping up with Ishar, but he's kinda gone completely bonkers. You won't find any answers with him.

[eyebrows rise] 'She'd stamp it all out. She would ruin every depiction.' ….huh. Given that you were one of those on the field when Radiant Roll Call was done and there were no Dustbringers there, you might be a potential Dustbringer, considering that you're in the lineup to get a POV book in the second five. That sounds like very destructo-Dustbringer thinking.

!!!! Is Jezrien your actual father, or is that an excuse that you're giving to explain away the collapse? Also, confirmation that whatever that knife did to Jezrien, it tore his soul away from the cycle the heralds were bound to, though still unknown exactly what it did.

Midius? That must be one of Jasnah's contacts – and Jasnah definitely recognises the two of them for who they are.

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Two – A Debt Repaid

!!!!!!! Dalinar retained the ability to infuse spheres and people with stormlight! That wasn't just an effect of the opening Perpendicularity or a temporary buff!

Oh thank god Drehy and Skar are alive – and on top of that, Vathah and Red and Ishnah… and Gavinor

ohhhhhhh, Teft and Lopen weren't the only new full Radiants-!

---

Back to Taravangian – compassionate Taravangian, who in all honesty should still fuck off

Who is now hearing voices in his head, and I don't think it's a spren. (But you never know…)

And he's the one who let the Singers in! Probably by using Malata to unlock and use the Oathgate, and from there the Honorblade was stolen. Ohhh, you scheming cremling of an old man. Not only that, but he and the others of the Diagram know to call the 'parshmen' Singers when none of the protags do as of yet.

'The confrontation predicted by the Diagram would happen soon.' what confrontation. Taravangian, what confrontation are you/they talking about and are we going to see it next book

Inviting Odium in like a goddamn vampire, that's just great

'Do you really think you will ever be able to negotiate with me from a position of power?' Oc course Odium wouldn't consider compassion to be power, but only the intelligent end of the scale. Still, it's not like there's any position of power for a human to 'negotiate' with Odium from in the first place.

Golden light, golden words – gold is as much Odium's colour as red is. Considering that one of his Unmade gives the Death Rattles/the power to foresee possible futures, he likely had a hand in granting Taravangian the ability to make the Diagram as well.

'A ripple in what Odium could see… At its root, a name. Renarin Kholin.' [from the distance, a muffled 'fuck yeaaaahhhhhh']

“I need nobody.” Oh for fuck's sake, I know that the majority of this book isn't supposed to feel all ~highbrow English~ and that's fine, it's part of the writing and atmosphere, but Odium is supposed to come across as haughty, not like a belligerent three-year-old. The editor should have at least demanded that it be changed to “I need no one.”

Haaaaah, he's still trying to bargain… and even though they technically made a bragain, I don't think it'll end up how Taravangian wants it anyway. Even if Odium himself leaves Kharbranth alone, he can simply let the Singers do as they wish to it, or blockade the humans in and simply wait for them to starve. Kharbranth has nothing but the Palanaeum and its medical schools, after all. One city alone in all Roshar will still fall.

---

Back to the Shadolin Constant Physical Affection and now in front of the other highprinces/princesses, generals, etc., with added “It looks beautiful.” “You look beautiful.” “You are beautiful.”“Only because you’re here. Without you, I fade.” No goddamn wonder Brightness Teshav is rolling her eyes at them. He’s tucking her under his chin and they’re happily leaning into each other amongst a people that Do Not Do Public Affection, and being complete lovestruck morons on top of that.

AND THEY'RE GETTING MARRIED IN A WEEK HOLY SHIT

(it's gonna be a looooong week for those two)

Again with gold being Odium's colour, though this time Dalinar is the one preemptively associating it with him – burning gold, even.

(it's going to be a very long week for Adolin/Shallan)

Iri is fully allied with Odium at this point, and they've got three of the ten Oathgates. That alone will severely restrict protagonist movement in the north-northwest part of Roshar – and I bet we'll get to see that part of the continent for ourselves in the next book.

Looking out over 'Kholinar' has to be An Experience for those in the room that haven't seen Shallan's powers at work beyond the lightmap, doubly so since it shows the city under occupation. For those whose home it is – was….. the gut-wrench must be far more.

How long is it going to take them (Dalinar, lbr, it'll have to be Dalinar's realization) that Taravangian is their Traitor™

OH AND THEN ADOLIN COMES RIGHT OUT WITH THAT IDEA

But of course Dalinar shoots it down, though at least not entirely. It may take the entirety of the next book – or even longer – as well as solid proof for that realization to come.

Ooo. Oooo. I… agree with Shallan in that Adolin has the capability to be king, but at the same time, not only do we-the-readers know that he doesn't particularly want to step higher than Highprince, but he's got some serious internal self-doubt issues to deal with that he apparently still hasn't confided to Shallan (and likely won't).

I……. was not expecting that revelation, not like this. I don't see how Dalinar/the Kholins can manage to fix this, honestly, though they'll have to do something – and Dalinar is too honest to hide it. Ialai will know, and Ialai will remember, and Ialai will have her revenge. I'll bet a handful of emerald spheres that she manages to nearly kill Adolin and he survives by reviving Mayalaran (probably unintentionally/with his dying breaths).

Admittedly, he wouldn’t be nearly as good at politicking as they need in a monarch right now; they need someone who can negotiate and carve arguments. Highprince suits him better.

---

AYYY, PALONA AND SEBARIAL AGAIN

At least all the kings and princes from before decided to come back, after the whole fiasco of a meeting that happened right before the battle in Thaylen City. I’m honestly surprised that all of them are here, because while Gawx would at least listen to Lift, what led the other monarchs to believe that they could trust the Alethi again?

‘The Kholin family, it seemed, had chosen their new monarch.’ Haaahahahahah and now you all have to deal with Queen Jasnah. If the Alethi social system isn’t entirely overturned by the time the Desolation is over, this had better result in either absolute primogeniture, or even better, aptitude.

---

Moash! Hello again, and from the bottom of my heart, go jump off a fucking cliff

So. They’re depopulating the human inhabitants of Kholinar; but where are they sending them? They can’t all be sent to work as labor in farms and fields, there’s just too many - especially with all the refugees that had taken shelter in the city when Odium’s army attacked and overran Kholinar.

Even here they’re talking about Passions, rather than just down in Thaylenah where the ‘Passions’ are worshipped and therefore would be part of the narrative that Odium was feeding to the new Singers. Considering how Odium call himself the Shard of Passion, and he used to be the Old God of the original batch of humans, that worship could have a basis from those way-back-when humans, and now that Odium is ‘on the side of’ the Singers/Listeners, he’s instituting much the same now.

“We heard something. Made us want to be near you.” [squints] ….what did you hear. Are you referring to hearing rumours, or hearing Rhythms, or hearing something else…

Well, being near Moash doesn’t look like its going to last long, and not just because of the name change. Vyre, huh. It’s a lovely-sounding name, but the meaning…. not so much.

---

MARRIAGE DAY, MARRIAGE DAY

Weddings are usually a hassle, Shallan, especially for those near the top of the social order, and it sounds like ‘everyone’ wants to try to make this a spectacle in the ‘correct’ way (as opposed to the Dalivani ‘let’s have the Stormfather himself marry us if none of the ardents will).

Of course Lift would gift her something like a dried fish. Bless.

BOOTS FROM BRIDGE FOUR. Ohhhh, they are never going to let you forget that for the rest of your life - though at least at this point it’s apparently all in good humor.

(Ialai ‘[leaving] Urithiru in disgrace’ does absolutely nothing to assuage my worries/certainty that she’ll be back for revenge)

I definitely need to draw Shallan in her wedding ensemble (and Adolin too).

'Veil and Radiant faded. When Shallan looked back in the mirror, she didn't feel embarrassed by the attention any longer. It was all right. It was all right to be happy.' I am so very, very happy for how far Shallan's come – not just over the course of this book, with all its ups and downs, but from the very beginning. Actually! Allowing herself and admitting to herself that it's okay to be happy, that she deserves happiness! Her, Shallan, and not any shade of her that comes out sometimes.

AH GOOD THEY'RE ALIVE, MRAIZE KEPT HIS PROMISE. Heheh – this is definitely a time for joyspren if there ever was one. How different she must look to them, considering the last time they saw her was so long ago, a year or more! And now she's here in this tower and a Radiant and getting married.

Oooo, only part of her debt forgiven. It's not like she was going to cut ties with the Ghostbloods anytime soon, but still – she still owes them.

However, their goals still align, and Mraize somehow knows of Sja-Anat. Speaking of Glys being one of her corrupted 'children', though, can she somehow contact them through Glys, I wonder, much as she contacted the Shallan and the others through a corrupted gloryspren while they were in Shadesmar?

A celebration of being herself. This is a wonderful thing.

---

Teft gets his own Bridge of squires! YESGOOD

That has to be really weirdly awkward, though, with Szeth – the Assassin in White – taking up duty as Dalinar's personal bodyguard. WHY DID WE NOT GET A SCENE OF THEM TALKING ABOUT THIS WHOLE NEW ARRANGEMENT. Branderson I am disappoint.

W R I T I N G

It's so amazing that just the fact that this man. is writing. sends me into fits of flailing. How fantastic, how wonderful, that worldbuilding and characterization and character development can come together in such a way that this scene makes me hand-flap a mile a minute.

'We took Shardblades from women, and they seized literacy from us. Who got the better deal, I wonder?' I think you've already determined your answer to that question, Dalinar.

Writing this is going to be greatly cathartic for him, no matter how it's received by others.

!!! He calls Rock a Windrunner – is he insinuating full Windrunner there, or is that also applied to the squires for convenience?

The light – the light from that last 'vision', the one that wasn't sent by Honor or the Stormfather. That light.

Oathbringer, My Glory and My Shame. Written by the hand of Dalinar Kholin.

[insert flailing here. lots and lots of flailing.]

Epilogue – Great Art

Still in Kholinar, Hoid? Well, interesting things are happening there, though you are risking getting caught by Odium, and that could only mean Bad Things for everyone...

Of course he'd go into this deep and meaningful spiel about art, all as witty justification for “You are less a human being, and more a lump of dung with aspirations.” The King's Wit really was quite the perfect side-job for him.

'Not a mask he put on. Real sorrow. Real pain.' You don't live as long as Hoid does, be who he is, and not have a wellspring of both.

'-level the city and consider it a cheap price for even the slimmest chance of ending [Hoid]' does sound like something Odium would do.

[hums] Making the possible start of a new family from broken fragments of old ones now lost. People underestimate how much you care.

Of course Odium would have Fused – with their memories that stretch back Desolations – that are dedicated to keeping an eye out for Hoid.

!!!!!!!!

“I know you'd rather have someone else, but this isn't the time to be picky. I'm certain now that the reason I'm in the city is to find you.” Who? Someone – or something – in the walls of the palace?

Luring with truths.

A Cryptic.

“Life before death, little one.”

[muffled shrieking]