Interludes

An interlude focusing on Zahel, a captive being tortured by Axindweth in a sealed room. Zahel has been imprisoned for weeks, stripped of his clothing and power to prevent escape, while his captor employs increasingly brutal methods to extract his Breaths—a form of magical power he possesses in extraordinary quantity.

Zahel hangs chained naked in a dark, aluminum-lined circular room designed to block spren from sensing him. He has endured weeks of captivity and torture since the invasion, periodically erasing his memories of pain to survive psychologically. A colorful parrot in a nearby cage shares his confinement, and Zahel attempts to comfort the suffering bird through a game of "peeky time," briefly lifting both their spirits. Axindweth, his captor, enters wearing rings and accompanied by her own green Aviar. She reveals a newly acquired painrial—a fabrial weapon designed to inflict pain more efficiently than her previous methods. When Axindweth offers Zahel a deal to free him in exchange for half his Breaths, he refuses to negotiate, recognizing it as a trap that would only lead to escalating demands. Refusing to respond further, Zahel braces himself as Axindweth tortures him into screaming.