I-13. Rysn

In this interlude, Rysn—a paralyzed former merchant now working as a scribe in the Thaylen royal vault—receives an unexpected visit from her former mentor Vstim, who offers her a ship as an investment to resume trading. During a routine audit, a disguised Voidbringer guard murders vault staff and attempts to steal the King's Drop, a legendary gemstone. Rysn must use her wits and her companion creature Chiri-Chiri to stop the thief and protect the vault.

Rysn sits in the Gemstone Reserve, bored with her desk job and resigned to life as a crippled woman unable to continue her merchant career. Vstim, her former babsk (mentor), arrives as a new minister of trade and presents her with a captain's cord and deed to a ship called the Wandersail, offering to fund her first trading expedition. Though initially resistant, Rysn is moved by his confidence in her. As they conduct a routine audit of the queen's personal vault, a seemingly ordinary guard reveals himself as a Voidbringer when he murders Tlik and attacks Vstim, attempting to steal the King's Drop—a massive ruby that has retained its Stormlight for over two centuries. Vstim manages to lock himself in the vault but is wounded. The Voidbringer systematically kills the vault guards despite their weapons and numbers. Rysn, initially helpless, realizes she must act. She uses Vstim's captain's cord to construct a makeshift crossbow mechanism by tying it between the crossbow's stirrup and her heavy chair, which she pushes down the vault steps. As the Voidbringer attacks her, her companion creature Chiri-Chiri—a small winged larkin—feeds on the Voidbringer's Stormlight, consuming his healing power. With the thief weakened and distracted, Rysn fires the crossbow, striking him in the chin and killing him. She now must retrieve the second set of keys to reach Vstim.