Namesake (sort-of Stoneward fic)

[Walin he/him]

Tallet was well aware of the Herald he was named after. Most people that he knew growing up were named after Jezrien or Kalak; his was a much more unique name. When he asked his father if he was named after any relatives, the answer was a simple denial, followed by dinner in awkward silence. It wasn't because of any events in his parents' lives, either; they had simply decided on the name for no specific reason. At the time he was born, his parents hadn't thought that the meaning of a name had any importance, so they "went with what sounded good." They applied that philosophy to the raising of their family; decisions of any kind were made with patience and deliberation, but with no particular reasoning behind them.

He had inherited his parents' attitude in his employment, going by whim applied with some measure of diligence. He became a sphere-maker, melting glass and forming it around small gemstones so they would be protected against wear and tear. It paid well enough that Tallet never thought about pocketing any spheres, but it was certainly monotonous. While working, he would think about his purpose. Not his Calling; that was glasswork, which he admittedly did not spend much time doing other than in sphere-making. Tallet's purpose, in his eyes, was to try and emulate his namesake.

Taln was called the Bearer of Agonies, among more understandable titles. Tallat was especially curious about this title; after all, the Heralds had suffered equally grave wounds in their battles against the Voidbringers. During the Desolations, they suffered the privations of their armies and people equally, or so he had gathered from Vorin teachings. What made Taln stand apart from the rest of them? Once, when he had asked for the reasoning behind this, he was told that "Talenelat'Elin volunteered for the most deadly of battles, and sacrificed himself first before the other Heralds. After the Final Desolation, he was last to join them in the Tranquiline Halls. They had left him behind briefly, because they trusted him to win a battle that turned out to take several days." After hearing this, he was then given an hours-long treatise on the attributes and accomplishments of the other Heralds, circling back at the end to the Final Desolation. He resolved to go to the Order of Talenelat for answers that wouldn't be drowned out by descriptions of other Heralds.

He enjoyed the teachings of the order, and learned far more about Taln than he thought would be possible. That earlier treatise about the other Heralds was a rockbud on the chull that was Herald knowledge. As the years went on, he listend to books that discussed Taln or his Order of the Knights Radiant; he did not have access to all of them, but occasionally the chance would arise to travel to Kholinar to visit the larger libraries.

When news came of Dalinar Kholin refounding the Knights Radiant, Tallat was dumbstruck. He had heard rumors of the Kholin highprince being erratic at times, but he hoped this was not one of those times. He was of the opinion that the Radiants abandoned, rather than betrayed, humanity. If they were returning, then Tallat might get to join their number. Or, at the very least, he could witness them in temples the Order of Talenelat, for surely they would spend time receiving training from the ardents.

In only a year, Alethkar was occupied and he had yet to see a Stoneward. From hearsay, a Radiant could be any ordinary person, but they needed to bond a spren beforehand. Tallat hoped that he would get to hear of someone doing so, but the occupying force kept him from hearing anything from the outside. To make matters worse, he was removed from sphere-making and relegated to pottery, something he had no expertise in. When he told this to his immediate superiors, they replied that the resident potter had died or fled, and that glassmaking was the closest skill that could be found among the populace. With no rebuttal for that, Tallet got to work and hoped for Radiants to show up.

Day after day, week after week, with no end in sight.