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

Title: Three Vital Points of Defense
Gotta be Azimir, Thaylenah, and… I dunno. Urithiru is already well defended, Herdaz and Alethkar are part of the deal, Emul and Jah Keved have already capitulated, and the singularity in the peaks wouldn’t be a defense but an offensive strike to retake. Aimia isn’t a population center and its importance is still a secret from everyone in this room. That leaves Iri, Tu Bayla, and the Reshi Isles, none of which are important to the coalition. Oh, wait, the third offensive was headed for the Shattered Plains, so they’ll be defending Narak.

Icons: Jester and Jez
Stormfather’s bondsmith making plans with Wit, also Leading. More excitingly, this is apparently a Navani chapter. Yay!

Epigraph: Nohadon told two lies…which we’ll learn about next chapter. Don’t worry, this is very suspenseful and not at all frustrating to be given seven words at a time. 

Navani can hear Stormfather talking to the Sibling. Is that because Stormfather is letting her hear, or because she’s bonded so closely with the Sibling that she’s privy to those conversations in the same way as the songs the lesser spren sing to them? I’m suspecting the latter, and that the Stormfather just hasn’t bothered talking to the Sibling in the past week.

Both of them can immediately confirm the change in vessel from the same rhythms that Wit apparently listened to for his deduction. 

Stormfather responds with bloodthirst and wishing he’d been the one to strike Rayse down, to which the Sibling responds by wishing Stormfather were his old happy self. I’m left wondering when that was. Before Gavilar? Before Tanavast’s death? Before the Recreance? Also, that’s something I’d be interested in them saying to Stormfather’s face, after his arguments about not being changeable like an ephemeral human.

Fen wants to know why we care. It’s still an enemy leading armies, which is a valid take. Wit insists it’s different, because the new vessel will be willing to take risks Rayse wouldn’t, which affects their strategy.

Quote

“A formal agreement like that [the contest of champions] binds the power, not just the individual, something Rayse himself discovered long ago.”

Wait, don’t tease us with that! What did Rayse get up to? Was he the binder or the bindee? What happened in consequence?

Can we change capitals?
Clever idea, glad I thought of it! Sadly no. That would be a violation of the agreement somehow.

Wit outright says Frost and his sister are dragons, though we know from his dog and dragon story in the last book that it’s not a word that translates on Roshar so I guess it doesn’t matter. Nobody is going to know enough to ask follow up questions even if they would have had the inclination to do so.

Oh, neat. The Sibling is impressed with the super map Dalinar and lightweavers can make together. It’s something the ancient Radiants never managed. I’m inclined to believe Navani’s explanation, that it’s an advance made possible by the lack of assumptions from the previous body of knowledge, but I’m concerned that it’s a reflection of Dalinar’s unchained bondsmithing and that they’ve accessed some manner of surgebinding that would have made it to the forbidden list like Shallan’s Substantiation. Is this part of the “oops, try not to destroy the planet again” category of powers, or at least an indication that those are accessible now?

Adolin summoned Maya and is telling her what he sees on the map. Will she have good advice? Even if not, I’m proud of him going to such lengths to include her even in the middle of a meeting like this with eyes on him.

They go through each of the locations detailing the situation, and it’s dire all over. The important piece is that the oathgate spren in Azimir will soon stop helping the human coalition, so any part of their army they send there won’t be able to reposition once that attack is repulsed, even if the timing would otherwise work out. Their three fronts can’t all reinforce each other. So the biggest manpower will have to be committed to Thaylenah, and the biggest Radiant force to Narak, while only a skeleton crew fend off the invasion fleet headed for Azimir.

Sounds like there’s not much strength at Narak, which probably means we’ll have to contact Leshwi and Venli for help from the listeners. But does anyone here even know about them enough to think to ask?

I was guessing that Adolin would choose to go to Azimir, and looks like I was right. He’s planning to take the Cobalt Guard with him, along with some elite volunteers. Maya will have a chance to shine.

As for the other fronts, Jasnah just volunteered for Thaylenah. She was just talking about how important the Shattered Plains were to her and her people, so this is slightly unexpected. She does have some strong camaraderie with Fen as another female monarch, though, on top of the other good reasons she gives about experience and suitability.

This is definitely hard for Navani to watch her daughter and step-sons volunteer for last stand defenses in different parts of the continent while she is stuck here to keep Urithiru functioning.

Sigzil getting stuck with high command over the Shattered Plains is not what he was hoping for as his first act in charge of the Windrunners. Sorry Sig, time to shine.

All this makes sense, but where will the Mink be? And even if Dalinar is unavailable to commit himself, he’ll presumably have some ability to help, perhaps by opening singularities over one battlefield or another to support the Radiants. Oh, right, he might be in the Spiritual Realm searching for Honor’s core. Best not to say that out loud, or commit to being anywhere for the battles.

Navani is very sympathetic here, hoping for Dalinar and Adolin to make at least an overture of peace, but at the same time if she’s urging Dalinar to “just hug him!”in her mind, why not take that step herself? She’s the step-mom now, she can at least make Adolin feel encouraged and trusted. 

The Kholin drama is storming about making messes. “You didn’t raise me, you killed the woman who did!” is a particularly biting comeback. Oof.

Dalinar can bondsmith a connection between Adolin and Azir so they can speak to each other? When did he learn how to do that, and how can he do it from a distance? I’d have expected him to need a Azish person as anchor if they were performing it in Urithiru.

And Dalinar plans to talk about Cultivation with Navani, Jasnah, Wit, and maybe Fen. I’m not sure what Fen contributes, but I’m not against her involvement. I still worry about whether the Ghostbloods were intentionally allowed to overhear that conversation.