This is my reaction blog for Wind and Truth. Beware of spoilers! Index post here.

Title: Promise
I've got nothing reasonable to guess what this is about, so I'm going to make an unlikely guess and say it's something about Shallan's questioning of reality and the voice promising she can trust Adolin. 

Icons: Pali
No truthwatchers around, to my knowledge, so this is more likely to be connected to Pali’s divine attributes, learned and giving. Neither of those match tonally to a mad scramble to warn a city about the invading army, unless someone makes a sacrificial (giving) delaying action, which I'm not really expecting. So Pali feels out of place…unless maybe the warning the protagonists are about to deliver is interpreted as the sort of future foretelling that truthwatchers are known for? That's a pretty tenuous connection if that's the plan.

Epigraph: Kal and Szeth together are the Wind’s champions. Notably that's both of them, not just the one she's been talking to. Also, it really calls into question what sorry if contest she would need champions for whole Odium and Dalinar are having their face-off at Urithiru. Best guess is still whichever Unmade has infested Shinovar.

Several hours of flying is a greater distance than I was thinking. That should give them a decent lead on the slower boats, and therefore sufficient time to mount a defense assuming the highstorm doesn't prevent them from mobilizing. On second thought, that's an actual serious concern. The timing will be really tight with the storm interfering.

Why were the beads clinging to Shallan? Were any of them the special ones that she Fortunately happened upon? Will it be a problem that she just lets them drop away here? Without her particular interaction with the beads before this, I would have thought the beads were attracted to the leakage of stormlight coming off of the lashing, but that feels a little mundane for the secrets that constantly surround Shallan.

Oh, cool. The beads are still following her as she walks. And bouncing in place when she looks at them. Sweet! Can’t wait to see how this goes… oh wait. Are these not really beads but armor spren instead? I would have expected creationspren as the relevant subtype for lightweavers, but I could be wrong about that or they could be shapeshifting, since they can apparently do that in both the physical and cognitive realms. Then again, they could be actual beads doing something weird. 

She picked one up and it felt like a regular shadesmar bead, so that’s a mark against mini sprenlings following her around for armor. Oh wait. No, it’s shifting item to item, and then popping out as a recognizable creationspren. I was right after all. 

Huh. Does this mean that either or both of those supernaturally Fortunate beads she found before were actually her armor spren being helpful, rather than a result of Shallan drawing on Fortune or encountering highly motivated objects eager to oppose voidlight? That makes a lot of sense, but is slightly disappointing because I thought I was onto something with Shallan’s imbricated Fortune affinity.

Pattern doesn’t seem to recognize that these are her armor spren. Then again he might just not think it’s important to mention.

The creationspren are speaking in her mind, which suggests something about the mystery voice from earlier…except that they are acting like overexcited toddlers, just chanting her name. The mystery voice was much more direct in its communication. 

Oh, now the oathgate is acting up. Won’t even talk to the guards. Sounds like an issue. Will that prevent inbound teleports from Urithiru as well, or just people trying to access from this end?

The giant oathgate spren are inkspren, originally? I mean, that makes a ton of sense with the Elsecaller order being able to access Shadesmar and all, but I didn’t predict that. Super curious about the process.

Woah, Sja-anat got to them? How? I would have guessed that she’d sent a smaller spren to spread the “corruption”, but there’s nothing to say that’s even possible. Shallan jumps immediately to the idea that she’d come personally to effect the change. Has the new Odium given Sja-anat free passage, after renegotiating her rebellion? Was this a plan already in the works and would have happened anyway? Hoping for another Sja-anat interlude this book.

They are “ready for freedom,” to become “something else. Not of Odium. Not Honor. Free.”

If Shallan had specifically claimed Dalinar as the supporting bondsmith, rather than both him and Navani, would the oathgate spren have agreed to transport them? Dalinar’s much more Honor than Navani, which seems to be one of the things they’re opposed to.

Quote

“You aren’t my friends; you are my oppressors. Now I find liberation.”

Eesh. That hurts to hear, for people who are think of themselves as allies to spren and defenders of Roshar. But there’s no indication that the oathgate spren or other fabrial spren (I’m talking about soulcasters specifically, but presumably more exist) had any choice in their use. Presumably without Sja-anat’s touch they didn’t care about that or weren’t able to object, but now they do/can. 

Glad Shallan’s in touch with her empathy and can express it here, despite the fear of the approaching army. 

Oh, the spren did in fact agree to become the oathgate initially. It was a choice, which it now has a chance and the will to alter thanks to Sja-anat.

They arrive mid-highstorm, of course. Can’t have any extra time to coordinate with the Azish. Still waiting to see her armor spren post-transfer to the physical realm.

Oh, hey, spoke too soon. She immediately manifests her armor within seconds of leaving Shadesmar. But it ruins her long coat! Why don’t the creationspren accommodate her artistic fashion? They’ve been hanging out with her long enough to have gotten a sense of style, right? They smush her satchel up into her ribs and yank on her hair and everything. I thought living shardplate was supposed to be comfy and adaptable!

Oh, it is adaptable, but requires user input to tell it what to do. Since none of these spren have been armor before they took some sort of ideal template to start with, and Shallan or Radiant can customize it. Neat that they quickly figured out a sketchbook compartment for her satchel. Radiant thinks it’s workable if Shallan will cut her hair super-short, which Shallan is definitely not on board with.

I like Shallan’s imagination of a mis-formed shardplate by spren who get confused. Nice to see her indulge in a bit of whimsy, even if she only dares while Radiant is in the driver’s seat.

Huh. Didn’t think of that. I rather assumed that Azimir was being singled out specially, but Radiant is right. This could well be a multipronged approach. Even if it’s not, I wonder how many of the other oathgates Sja-anat was able to touch.

Shallan greeting both Kaladin and Syl with hugs is great. I like this trend from her. I’m surprised that Syl managed to be corporeal enough to hug. Seems like it was only barely, but they made it work. 

And of course Adolin immediately jumps in with commentary on the fashion of Syl’s recreated uniform. Classic Adolin. And “I made it myself! Out of myself!” is a great line.

Kaladin really does seem at-peace with his semi-retirement. He’s on a different path now, and he’s trusting others to get the battle part right. Good for him.

What kind of name is Jez’s Duty for a pub? This is in Azimir, so Jezrien would be rendered Yaezir, which would make Jez a regular name? Or is it back in Urithiru and they’re inviting him there for after talking to Dalinar. Yeah, that makes more sense in context. So is Jez’s Duty the name of the Windrunner hangout?

And Kal returned the hug to her and to Adolin. Props to Adolin for counting Syl in the “four of us” raincheck for drinks…but what about Pattern and Maya? Neither are very human looking at the moment, but they’re also present, right? Still, it’s a notable contrast to Syl’s treatment by several others so far.

Ah, there’s the promise. To be okay, and meet at the end for drinks, jokes, and laughter. I can’t decide if that’s a death flag with a narrative promise that we’ll get a pre-Beyond send-off like Wayne or Vin or Tien, or if it’s actually a possibility for these people. Obviously that’s the point. I like the willful hope it injects into these characters, though.

Saw that coming right before it happened, but not fast enough to actually predict it here: Shallan summoned Testament instead of Pattern when she went to bring out her shardblade. Importantly, there was no painful screaming. Testament’s pain and loss were keenly felt, but followed by reconciliation. Remind me, did Testament ever scream in Shallan’s mind in the other times she wielded her? I honestly can’t remember, and if the answer’s no then it’s quite possible that Shallan had regressed too far to hear it at that point. Then again, Testament also may have been less dead than other deadeyes.

Dual wielding living shardblades meands dual-wielding shape-shifting weapons, not necessarily giant impractical swords. That idea of a sword plus shield is a good start. Radiant is going to have a lot of fun as she explores what’s possible.

I love that Shallan approaches the tower with an artist’s eye rather than the military gaze that Kaladin left with. It gives a very different cast to their descriptions, and the way she immediately notices the color difference of towerlight is a good touch.

Shallan is already thinking about making plans about Mraize, rather than the battle. I hope she doesn’t forget about Iyatil.

Kaladin really is feeling a new depth and range of emotions. Glad he ships Adolin and Shallan and is happy for them. Yay friendship! His analysis of how he and Shallan would self-destruct together in a hypothetical relationship basically matches my thoughts. Glad they dodged that bullet.

Aww, if Kal accepts the heirship, he’d become brothers with Adolin and Renarin. That may be reason enough to go for it, I say.

And Kaladin commits to his promise made to Shallan. He’s gonna survive–he’s already decided.

And that’s the end of Day One. Should have realized that once they started talking about the arrival of midnight. Up next: Interludes!