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

Title: Vague Promises and Hints
Yes, that’s about what we’ve come to expect from the Shard vessels at this point. I’m not really anticipating anything else from Cultivation despite her supposed interest in opposing Taravangian now.

Icons: Jester and Vedel
Same as chapter 14, but with their positions swapped. Jester was on the outside before, now it’s to the center. Not that I’ve got any clue about what that means. At least the sides are still mirrored. We had some weird unmirrored chapters near the end of RoW that didn’t follow the few rules these seme to have.
As for the icons and their relation to the chapter, I suspect it’s mostly Cultivation’s presence for Vadel, and Wit for the Jester assuming he’ll show up to talk about his missing memories. Other options are hard to rule out, though. Ghostbloods are Shallan’s next target, so they could easily be prominent soon. 

WAIT! 
I just noticed the cracks in the archway. The ones branching through the Eye of the Almighty caught my attention first, but a closer look shows them spreading through the herald icon segments and the chapter title header. Those weren’t present before, right? 
Yeah, double checking the prior chapters shows that Day One and its following interludes had pristine archways overtop of every chapter, while Day Two so far has identical cracks. Presumably these will worsen until the whole edifice crumbles down by Day Ten. That’s not ominous at all.
Good grief, I shouldn’t be so freaked out by this little visual foreshadowing, but something about it is really communicating “this is going to get bad.” I wonder how many readers notice this. I probably wouldn’t have until it got more noticeable a section or two from now, if I weren’t checking the icons every time.

Epigraph: Slow trickle of information. It will be a few chapters before there’s much to comment on.

Shallan feeling safe and accepted is wonderful. She’s needed that safe harbor for a long time now. Joyspren swirling lazily is a good way to capture that emotion. Also, they apparently look like blue leaves. I’m starting to think that the only emotion spren I really remember the descriptions for are anticipationspren, painspren, and shockspren, since this is yet another one that I didn’t have a visual for in my brain.

The creationspren all copying different soaps, shampoos, and stuff is silly and cute. They aren’t doing  a very good job of disguising themselves if they keep bouncing up and down while chanting her name. 

She’s talking to them, but I don’t think they’re really mentally up for conversation. It feels almost like she’s got a bunch of pokemon following her around that can only say one thing.

So we’ve got Kaladin’s sparkly aura, and Shallan’s cheer section. Why don’t Jasnah’s armor spren embarrass her like that? What kind of spren do elsecallers attract for that, anyway? Current money is on logicspren, who probably don’t go in for frivolous pageantry like the windspren and creationspren apparently do.

Shallan checks, but Testament doesn’t manifest on this side (yet).

Gaz and Red disguising themselves as planters took me by surprise. I doubt lightweavings like that will fool the investiture sensors that the ghostbloods are bound to be using, be it copper based or something else, but that kind of guard will still act as a deterrent even if it doesn’t go undetected.

I vaguely remember the name Stargyle, and there’s a new Lightweaver: Darcira. More importantly, they’re calling themselves the Unseen Court. That might have come up before, but I like having a pretentious name for their spy ring - slash - secret service.

This may or may not be a general lightweaver approach, but Shallan at least is keeping her “family” of lightweavers small. She’s not trying to lead the whole order.

Wit sent sketches of 12 ghostblood members, none of whom are Felt. Makes me think he’s missed more than a few. More masked members, indicating they are probably Scadrians, though hoods and hidden faces could really be anybody. Wit suggests they are particularly “dangerous” reinforcements called specifically for the coming crisis. Also notably Shallan talks about them being short, which is a reminder that Rosharan’s are universally tall compared to the rest of the cosmere.

Shallan’s plan being predicated on the idea that she has information the ghostbloods don’t makes me concerned for how vulnerable they are to the tables being turned. We know Ala already conveyed the info to both Iyatil and Kelsier.

I’m glad that one of the things Shallan objects to about Mraize is his caging of Lift. It’s not just about the manipulation and trust. She’s also choosing her friends and her morals.

Everyone wants to borrow her armor, except Darcira who just wants to test what is possible with their powers, and Shallan is stuck following good advice. And apparently Darcira was a former ardent. Shallan’s Unseen Court is drawing from quite a range of backgrounds.

Gaz is still annoyed at Kal being an icon of goodness. What a jerk to show off like that just to spite Gaz. Oh, and apparently Gaz is unintentionally honest when drunk. “Might say things he ain’t ready to say yet.” Good indication that all of them have the same sorts of truths that they have trouble facing about themselves. Shallan’s internal mess is pretty extreme, but all lightweavers will come with some sort of unresolved dissonance or they wouldn’t have attracted their cryptics.
Not really a surprise that Wit joined that order, is it?

Veil pipes up again, and Shallan has a useful realization.

Quote

What good would healing be if it meant losing part of herself–a part she loved–forever? More and more, she was feeling that reintegration wasn’t about rejecting Veil or Radiant, but embracing them and acknowledging in a healthy way that different parts of her had different needs, different goals, different ideas.

It’s a great sentiment. It also suggests I was right in my idea before that she’ll be healing from her supernaturally fractured psyche toward a more traditional form of DID. It’s a message about that state of plurality being a stable and good thing to work toward, and an intentional representation of neurodivergence in fiction that will hopefully be a good thing and counteract some of the more fantastical and negative split-personality stereotypes that populate a lot of fiction. I am not as educated about that topic as I’d like to be, but I’ve had some exposure to it and can see the value here.

Looks like the creationspren are too inexperienced to act as actual armor away from Shallan’s body. She can encase Red with a touch, but not remotely and not with movable joints.

As before, there was the faintest hint of the sound of crumbling stone to [Cultivation’s] voice.
It’s probably just coincidence, since I noticed it two chapters after it had already started, but the crumbling stone archway at the top of the chapter makes this comment more concerning, with Cultivation playing a part in the upcoming destruction. She’s not opposed to composting the current world order if it will fertilize future growth, which is fine in abstract as long as you aren’t the current occupants of the world about to be mulched.

“Why not explain?” A valid question, Dalinar, and all you’ll get is *checks title* Vague Promises and Hints.

Okay, I’m getting a suspicion here. Cultivation’s first vague hint is asking about his purpose as a Bondsmith. Answer: “To unite them,” which is explicitly called out as having many meanings. She next reminds him of the time he touched all three realms, and tells him to take a journey of understanding through Roshar’s history because Honor is shattered into pieces… pieces in need of uniting. 

So she is hoping that Dalinar will repair the Shard so it’s ready to accept a vessel. She hasn’t spelled it out yet, and I’m not sure if she will, but I’m suddenly wondering whether that is now also Taravangian’s goal…just with a different step 2 where he intends to hijack the process and/or the result for his own ends.

Wait, she says that Honor wasn’t actually splintered. And she outright says that it’s waiting for a new vessel to host it. In this case I’m not sure whether having the goal explained makes it more or less likely to come to fruition. She does claim not to know whether Dalinar can succeed in becoming the vessel, or whether doing so would actually help successfully against Odium. The timing of this feels suspicious, and we know she's been manipulating lots of things all along, so I feel the need to question her motives even if the answers she gave feel like the best approach for Dalinar to take.

She’s telling him to go to the Spiritual Realm, which is a shame because I’m not really eager to have him crash Shallan’s party. That’s not a pair that have worked together much, so in the nature of these stories shuffling the cast around for new interactions it makes sense to try this combination. I’ll hold out hope for the pairing to surprise me in a good way.

Apparently Cultivation hides well enough that none of the spren can sense her either, and Stormfather had no idea about the visit. Stormfather is not excited about Dalinar traveling to the spiritual realm or trying to connect with Honor’s power. Specifically he doesn’t want to share more answers with Dalinar, presumably because of past experiences with Gavilar.