Interlude 15

Interlude 15: Dyel, a young Iriali girl working in her mother's tea shop in Iri, encounters three scholars asking about mysterious lights—one of whom is the Herald Nale who murdered her grandfather. Her mother confronts them with a Shardblade, but a letter from a mysterious visitor clarifies the misunderstanding. The chapter culminates in Cusicesh the Protector rising from the bay and opening a gateway, signaling the beginning of the Fifth Journey and forcing Dyel and her mother to abandon their life on Roshar.

Dyel serves tea to three unusual visitors—a tall Makabaki man named Baon, a grumpy bald man named Galladon, and a quiet Shin man named Demoux—who ask her about strange collections of lights. Terrified because such lights resemble the intelligent spren Uma who has been living with her family, and because she believes one of them is her grandfather's murderer, Dyel retreats in panic. Her mother returns home, sees the strangers, and summons her Shardblade, believing the killer has finally come for revenge. However, Uma the spren confirms that Baon is not the Herald Nale. The tension defuses when Dyel's mother produces a letter left by a mysterious healer woman who visited months earlier—the letter contains only a signature and a crude drawing, apparently from the Trickster Aspect. Baon warns them of chaos to come and the three men depart. Shortly after, Cusicesh the Protector rises from the bay and opens a gateway in the sky, announcing the Fifth Journey—a sacred migration in Iriali tradition. Dyel's peaceful life at the shop abruptly ends as she and her mother gather their travel packs and board boats to cross into the place of shadows, leaving Roshar behind with the caravans of their people.