Chapter 126

Nine and a half years before the present timeline, Szeth crashes into his father Neturo's remote camp, overwhelmed by Stormlight and fleeing from an encounter with an Unmade. Szeth struggles to tell his father what he has discovered, but ultimately cannot fully confide in him, instead asking him to hide and stay safe.

Szeth arrives at his father Neturo's waystop in a crash of Stormlight, having fled from a tunnel and what he describes as running from the Unmade and the past. He is burning through excessive Stormlight and in distress. When Neturo tries to calm him, Szeth insists he cannot explain what is wrong, fearing his father will be drawn into something dangerous. Through their exchange, Neturo encourages Szeth to breathe and confides his own crisis of faith—recalling when his father Vallano died, the Heralds could not come to heal him because they were overwhelmed with too many petitioners. Neturo acknowledges that no one, not even the Heralds, has all the answers, and that Szeth and others must figure things out themselves. Realizing the weight of responsibility falling on him alone, Szeth asks his father to hide and remain safe before launching back into the air, leaving the camp.