I-11. Adin

An interlude following Adin, a thirteen-year-old potter's son who dreams of becoming a Windrunner. As soldiers gather in the atrium during an unspecified disturbance, Adin's father abandons his pottery work to secretly investigate, and Adin convinces him to bring him along, sensing an opportunity to prove his bravery.

Adin, a young darkeyed boy working as a potter's apprentice in Urithiru, dreams of becoming a Radiant like the Windrunner he admires. He believes the spren choose brave people regardless of age or status, and he has observed a younger girl already chosen. While following his father through the halls, Adin witnesses groups of soldiers moving toward the atrium and notices other youths like Shar also glaring defiantly at the passing warforms. He learns to act bravely even in small ways—refusing to limp despite a healed ankle injury, not wanting the spren to see weakness. At the pottery shop of Master Liganor, Adin works the crem while his father advises him that pride in any job, no matter how mundane, signals the discipline needed to fight the Fused. Master Liganor arrives nervous about activity in the atrium and closes the shop, retiring to his rooms. Adin's father then reveals his true purpose: he has been secretly tending to fallen Radiants and doing secret work at night. When Adin deduces his father is going to paint the glyph on his head and watch over the Radiants in the atrium, he insists on accompanying him, persuading his father by claiming he will be safer and can carry messages if needed. His father agrees, and Adin feels certain that today he will finally get his chance to prove himself and gain a spren.