Chapter 44

Szeth leads Kaladin and Syl to his childhood homestead in Shinovar, where he struggles with memories and his identity. Along the way, Nightblood the sword grapples with its own agency and past killings, while Kaladin attempts to help Szeth find a path beyond his self-destructive beliefs about punishment and duty. Syl reveals her own internal conflicts about her role and identity.

Szeth guides the group to his family's homestead on the prairie near the ocean, initially struggling to locate it from the air. He reflects on how his people divided into soldiers and pacifists, unable to make weapons without stone or steel, and how he has rationalized his role as a killer within this system. His spren instructs him that his quest is to cleanse the land through combat, though it refuses to explain details and restricts his use of his second Surge, Division. Kaladin attempts to convince Szeth that he is a person with agency and choices, not merely an object to be used, but Szeth resists, insisting laws and duty must supersede personal judgment. Nightblood interjects, expressing distress about the people it has killed throughout its existence and questioning whether it should kill at all. The sword reveals it was created by Vasher (whom Kaladin knows as Zahel) alongside Shashara, and mentions other names—Vivenna, Yesteel—from its past. Syl engages playfully with Kaladin, and they discuss how they've grown distant from each other's expectations during the tower's occupation. Syl admits she wanted to fight but accepts that her duty now lies with Szeth and Kaladin in Shinovar. She reveals she is trying to learn to live for herself rather than solely for Kaladin, while Kaladin grapples with similar questions about his own identity beyond duty. When they reach the empty farmhouse, Kaladin finds a terrified lifespren and hears the Wind speak of something ending—a threat to all spren. The group finds Szeth at his family's old homestead holding a stone that had dominated his childhood. Kaladin shares parallels in their lives—both were meant for different paths before fate intervened—but Szeth rejects the comparison, insisting his fate was forced while Kaladin's was chosen. Szeth begins to reveal that raiders came the night he found the stone, but something worse than the raiders themselves appeared.