55. Alone Together

Rlain sits alone on the Shattered Plains, mourning his lost people while watching humans fortify his former home. He joins Bridge Four at their watering station, struggling with feelings of isolation and alienation despite being accepted by his friends, who remain largely unaware of the depth of his loneliness as the last listener.

Rlain attunes the Rhythm of the Lost while observing humans constructing a fortress at Narak, the ruins of his people's home. He reflects on how his people—the listeners—have been destroyed or transformed by the Everstorm into Fused, leaving him as seemingly the last of his kind. Despite his bonds with Bridge Four, Rlain feels like an outsider; the crew treats him with casual kindness but also with underlying suspicion about his potential to turn into a monster if he learned to use Stormlight, in contrast to how they encouraged Skar. When Rlain joins the others at Rock's drink station, they make small talk and jokes, with some bridgemen offhandedly asking if he knows the plans of the Voidbringer Fused—assuming he should understand them because they are his kinsmen. Rlain explains that his people deliberately separated themselves from the old listener gods and Fused long ago, and he does not know what changed. When Kaladin returns from patrol without encountering Voidbringers, the full crew gathers and discusses how expectations are changing within Bridge Four: women now fight as soldiers, and Renarin is learning to read, which some view as unmanly. Kaladin defends this flexibility and points out that Bridge Four itself is upending traditional roles. Rock then acknowledges that several members have confessed to feeling they don't fit in anymore, prompting a brief sharing of struggles—nightmares, language barriers, fear of heights. Rock offers comfort by suggesting they can "feel alone together." When Kaladin notices Rlain sitting apart, he offers him the rest of the day off and squats beside him, asking if Rlain would share how he truly feels. Rlain, attuning Resolve, agrees to try explaining his isolation.