33. A Lecture

Shallan locates Jasnah in the depths of Urithiru and learns how the princess survived her assassination on Wind's Pleasure—by using her powers as an Elsecaller to escape to Shadesmar, though returning to the physical realm proved difficult. Their reunion is strained as Jasnah lectures Shallan on how fabrials work and demands sketches of the crystal pillar, while Shallan struggles with resentment at Jasnah's secrecy and the pressure of leadership now falling back on her.

Shallan spends a day in her room sketching and analyzing her encounter with the Unmade, finding that with Jasnah's unexpected return, the oppressive aura that has haunted Urithiru has lifted. She searches the tower for Jasnah and descends into the pit, finding her studying the enormous crystal pillar—composed of all ten types of gemstones fused together—that dominates the chamber where Shallan faced the Midnight Mother. Rather than a warm reunion, Jasnah launches into an analytical lecture about fabrials and how spren are imprisoned within gemstones to power them, drawing an uncomfortable comparison to enslaving sentient beings. Shallan sketches the pillar as instructed while Jasnah apologizes for her lack of foresight on Wind's Pleasure and warns that the Ghostbloods will likely target Shallan now. When pressed on how she survived being stabbed, Jasnah explains that as an Elsecaller, she can move between the physical realm and Shadesmar, though returning proved more difficult than escaping. The conversation remains tense as Shallan bristles at Jasnah's commanding tone and secretive absence, while Jasnah expresses her own sense of being lost—displaced from her former position at the forefront of events by her brief absence and the rapid refounding of the Radiants in her time away.