112. For the Living

Kaladin reflects on a lost relationship with Tarah, a quartermaster's daughter, before his mind turns to the present journey through the spiritual realm. After two days of hiking through a strange forest, Kaladin's group reaches a vantage point overlooking Thaylen City and discovers the Oathgate defended by a massive army of enemy spren.

The chapter opens with Kaladin's memory of Tarah, a darkeyed woman he cared for who worked in the quartermaster's office. When she tells him she is leaving for a position in Mourn's Vault to improve her family's prospects, Kaladin cannot bring himself to ask for a transfer to follow her, choosing instead to remain focused on his duty and his grief over his brother Tien's death. Tarah tells him he needs to learn to be there for the living, not just the dead. He later receives two unresponded-to letters from her. The narrative then shifts to Kaladin leading Adolin and Shallan through a spiritual forest landscape with their spren companions. After two days of hiking to conserve Stormlight, the group crests a hill and discovers Thaylen City below them in the spiritual realm, manifested as thousands of bobbing souls above a sea of glass beads. Two massive corrupted spren guard the Oathgate—a platform with a white bridge—and are backed by an army of hundreds or thousands of enemy spren. Kaladin reflects that he must reach the Oathgate and cannot fail as he did in Kholinar.