Welcome to my liveblog of Rhythm of War! Intro post here. Beware of spoilers.

Chapter 6 (A Loose Thread)
Epigraph: Confirmation that the type of metal is important to the fabrial effect. Glad that we have a term for the metallic portion of a fabrial now (“cage”). Our terminology has been seriously lacking in this department. 

Ooo, secret passageways inside the chasms! Sneaky, but that sounds like a real maintenance issue. Flooding would be atrocious. I hope not too many slaves died making these things or seeing to their upkeep.

Something doesn’t add up. The tunnel was (according to Radiant’s speculations) constructed in the early years of the war on the Shattered Plains, as an escape route for Torol and Ialai. Yet, it was made by shardblade, something Sadeas had been wanting to acquire for decades. I don’t see him trusting anyone who had a blade to create his escape route. Maybe this is a construction by Amaram or his contingent, after arriving during the Words of Radiance events? Not sure when he would have had the time, but sure. I’ll buy that he carved some tunnels for himself to use in his pursuit of armageddon.

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Shallan took over, as she had an incredible—likely supernatural—ability to sense and memorize direction. She mapped their path in her head.

That’s interesting. I thought that was the province of the Elsecallers. Maybe Lightweavers get a bit of it anyway, despite resonances supposedly being unique?

Ialai blamed Dalinar for assassinating Thanadal? Probably prudent of Vamah to flee, whether he believed it or not. I’m betting Ialai would have made good on her “warning” either way.

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Ialai Sadeas sat at a table on the far side of the room, shrouded in shadows, away from the windows and the glowing sphere lamps on the walls. Near to her sat a large hutch with a roll top covering its front.

My money is on the hutch containing a surprise larkin that will expose Shallan’s infiltration, leaving her powerless. I’m not sure how she will get out alive in that eventuality, though she would still have Pattern if she’s to the point that summoning a Shardblade doesn’t break her psyche.

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Who is Nalma? I’m pretty positive that name has never come up before. Kaladin has an endless stream of people he thinks he’s failed, but Nalma isn’t one I recognize.

Glad that the pattern of not finishing an opponent is taking shape, probably saving a ton of Bridge 4 lives in the future.

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The ball of light was bright blue. Part of Navani felt it should be red—to reveal the true nature of the spren that hid inside Renarin. A Voidspren. Or at least an ordinary spren corrupted to the enemy’s side. None of them knew what to do about that fact, least of all Renarin. 

I’m very glad to see that this is not a case of “let’s keep important secrets and not talk to each other.” Looking forward to seeing more about what Renarin has been up to in the past year.

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Renarin claimed the spren was trustworthy, but something was odd about his powers. They had managed to recruit several standard Truthwatchers—and they could create illusions like Shallan. Renarin couldn’t do that. He could only summon lights, and they did strange, unnatural things sometimes…

Reeaally? That’s interesting. I want to know more.

Confirmation that only the Heavenly Ones are interested in the one-on-one duels. Other Fused apparently are happy to target civilians and less well-matched opponents. I wonder if that mirrored temperament to the Windrunners is realmatically related to the honorspren/windspren connection, and that the Fused with access to gravitation are fundamentally related? The alternative, that Leshwi and others of the Heavenly Ones faction have cultivated that culture of fair play independently of realmatic concerns. That’s possible, but I consider the parallelism more likely.

I like that Rushu is being observant. I wonder what her involvement is going to be, beyond “brilliant scientist.”

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Navani got a better glimpse of Shadesmar this time. And again she heard that tone. That was new, wasn’t it?

What was new? I can’t tell what she’s talking about. The tone was something she heard before, and she remarks on it here as an “again” thing, so she didn’t forget. What’s the new element?
 

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She could visit it in person if she wished, using the Oathgates—but something felt different about these visions.

The Oathgates can take them to Shadesmar intentionally? That’s good to know. I wasn’t sure if the previous occurrence was simply a malfunction.

Jasnah is keeping secrets from Navani about Shadesmar. I wonder what they are!

So Navani is trying to connect to the Spiritual Realm, but nobody they’ve talked to (including spren) know enough to teach them about this. I wonder if they’ve tried talking to Zahel or not. (I also wonder if Zahel has moved on, trying to stay away from Azure.)

Oh no! It’s Moash! Dun dun dun.

Nice mutual respect moment with Leshwi, and her disgust with the brutality of the teleporting Fused is a good characterization moment. I was semi expecting her to lead him into a trap with Moash (or the other Fused) but it looks like her sense of fair play is more intact than that. Moash ambush coming up in the next engagement, though. Kal vs Mo with an interfering teleporter is going to be a difficult fight, especially since Kal was just drained of nearly all his light.