3. Pattern

Shallan continues observing a mysterious pattern that appears repeatedly in her cabin, eventually capturing it in a detailed drawing. When the pattern manifests physically on her cabin floor, Jasnah reveals herself and explains that both she and Shallan are bonding with spren related to the lost Knights Radiant, specifically with Cryptics—powerful entities from Shadesmar. Jasnah tasks Shallan with studying this spren companion in detail.

Shallan reads in her cabin late at night from one of Jasnah's early scholarly works about pre-Hierocracy history and the Knights Radiant, puzzled by Jasnah's initial reluctance to share the volume. She observes the mysterious pattern again—a complex, intricate geometric design that vanishes when viewed directly but reappears in her peripheral vision. Using a Memory to capture its appearance, Shallan frantically sketches the pattern with increasing intensity, attracting dozens of creationspren. After completing the drawing with ink, the pattern physically manifests on her cabin floor, moving like a living creature across the wood and onto her bedding. Alarmed, Shallan flees and finds Jasnah outside her door holding a small inky humanoid spren. Jasnah enters the cabin and begins explaining that both she and Shallan are bonding with spren related to the Knights Radiant through different orders. She identifies the pattern as a Cryptic—entities also called liespren that rule one of Shadesmar's greater cities. Jasnah explains that spren are fragments of creation's fundamental forces (the ten Surges) that gained sentience through human attention, and that the pattern will grant Shallan the ability to Soulcast. Through scholarly discussion, they explore theories about spren originating mankind's ancient gods and religions. Jasnah dismisses traditional religious beliefs but acknowledges the possibility that powerful spren like the Stormfather and Almighty might exist as creatures rather than gods. She then relieves Shallan of other studies and assigns her the singular task of observing, interacting with, and recording detailed accounts of the Cryptic spren.