45. Middlefest

Three and a half years before the present, young Shallan attends the Middlefest Fair with her father and witnesses the decline of House Davar. She orchestrates meetings between her troubled brothers and potential interests while encountering a mysterious messenger who delivers cryptic news about her eldest brother Helaran and speaks of her latent powers.

Shallan, fourteen years old, accompanies her father Brightlord Davar to the Middlefest Fair held on his estates. She observes her father being politically cornered by Brightlord Revilar, who leverages his growing favor with the highprince to force a disadvantageous trade agreement. Escaping her duties, Shallan seeks out her brothers with purpose. She finds Balat watching axehound fights and delivers a note from Eylita Tavinar, encouraging him to meet her by the stream. She then visits Wikim in the carriage, bringing him mathematical problems on highstorm timing that she has painstakingly copied and translated from their father's books. Wikim initially rejects her gesture harshly, causing Shallan to flee in tears. While sitting alone, a strange man—the same messenger who visited her father—approaches her. He reveals that Helaran is in Alethkar watching the family, and engages her in a philosophical discussion about beauty and pain. When Shallan describes her idealized vision of her family happy together, the messenger produces spheres that glow with Stormlight, and wisps of light manifest around her. She pulls back from this experience, and the messenger cryptically tells her she is not yet ready to understand the nature of lies and must see truth before expanding upon it. He departs without giving his name.