Interludes

An interlude following Kaladin after the queen's surrender to the Fused. When enemy soldiers arrive to collect fallen Radiants from his father's clinic, Kaladin intervenes violently to prevent them from taking his friend Teft, killing a stormform Regal and forcing his family into hiding.

Morning breaks after the queen's surrender. Kaladin and his family, exhausted from twenty hours treating patients, learn confirmation that Navani has surrendered to the Fused and the tower is now under singer control. Kaladin wrestles with the implications—the Oathgates are lost, armies isolated, and the war fundamentally changed. His father Lirin argues that they should focus on healing rather than fighting, that Kaladin's violent past has broken him, and that they can do more good as surgeons under occupation. Kaladin reluctantly agrees to rest. Syl warns that soldiers are coming, and a stormform Regal arrives with warform singers, armed with a sealed writ ordering the collection of all fallen Radiants. They begin removing the unconscious Stoneward and her squires. When the Regal moves to take Teft, Kaladin—despite his exhaustion and his father's pleas—intervenes, drawing Stormlight and fighting the Regal hand-to-hand in the exam room. The fight is brutal; Kaladin uses a surgical scalpel to cut the Regal's carotid artery after the creature fires lightning in the confined space. The warform singer flees, traumatized. Kaladin's father attempts to save the dying Regal, then breaks emotionally, accusing Kaladin of murder and monstrosity. Lirin refuses to flee with Kaladin, saying he will take responsibility and that the singer who witnessed his attempt to stop Kaladin will protect him. Kaladin lifts the unconscious Teft and escapes into the tower's center as shouting erupts behind him.