rhythm of war spoilers Convergence - a Shinovar fic

[cosmere_play he/him, she/her. Go nuts]

What will happen during Kaladin and Szeth's Excellent Adventure to Shinovar? This fic originally started as an RP between me and BlindRadiant. It explores Kaladin and Szeth's inner turmoil and external adventure as they fight enemies, fight each other, and fight to obtain their goals in Shinovar. Major Rhythm of War spoilers below!

Convergence

Rated Teen, will top off around 50,000 words, currently at about 30,000 and posting weekly.

Spoiler

Ten days. Well, nine now, Kaladin thought anxiously. We have to somehow find Ishar in Shinovar and bring him back to Dalinar as fast as possible. Kaladin was dressed for flying, wearing a Windrunner’s scouting uniform. It felt strange not to wear his Highmarshal’s knots, but good, too. It was a load he could put down, maybe forever. Nevertheless, he had a heavy pack on his back, and he was already sweating as he paced the area, waiting for Szeth to join him outside Urithiru. Perhaps he had come out here too early, but he hadn’t slept, so there hadn’t been much else to do besides get ready. He put the pack down and sat on it, letting his body cool off in the dawn breeze.

He adjusted himself to make sure he wasn’t going to break Wit’s flute, which he’d packed on a whim. He’d left Tien’s carved horse behind with his parents, who would take good care of it. I will come back for it. For them, he thought with determination. His father had given him a tearful goodbye. This might be harder for him than it is for me, although maybe I should admit this isn’t exactly easy for me either. It was a lot to be given a high profile, high stakes mission on a tight deadline so soon after...well, everything that had happened. He was still feeling numb, but also on edge.

He stood again restlessly, feeling the beams of dawn slowly start to warm his dark uniform, the memories flashing before him. Teft. Moash. Falling off the Tower. Swearing the Fourth Ideal. Almost drowning. Navani bonding the Sibling, bringing the Tower to life. The nightmares. Shash glyphs on people’s foreheads. Fused abandoning Odium and joining the Listeners. Defeating the Pursuer. The people who had been locked in dark cells, freed and needing more help. Seeing Tien. Letting go of his shame. Letting go of his need to protect everyone all the time.

He sighed. Letting go didn’t take the pain away from him, or it seemed, from Syl. She stood beside him, full sized, staring into the distance. It hadn’t been easy for her, either. Kaladin took a deep breath and tried to chase away the jarring flashes of memories by focusing on the chittering of the morning chickens instead.

Better to focus on the next step, he thought to himself, but it was easier said than done. Dalinar had said he would be sending him to Shinovar with unusual company. Somehow he did not expect it to be Szeth, the former Assassin in White, whom he had fought on a number of occasions, and even killed once. He wasn’t sure how he felt about traveling in such close quarters with the man, but he would follow Dalinar without question. Since Szeth had already fought alongside his commander, and Dalinar felt it was appropriate even knowing everything he did about Kaladin’s condition, then Kaladin would put his trust in Dalinar.

***

Szeth-son-Honor looked over his pack, carefully checking that he’d included everything he would need for the upcoming trip. He was traveling to Shinovar, his home. He had once believed that he would never return. But his exile had been meaningless. Within the next two days, he would see his homeland for the first time in nearly a decade. He was a very different man now from the one he had been when he’d been named Truthless and cast out so long ago. It felt as though lifetimes had passed in the intervening years. The time Szeth had spent in the lands of the stonewalkers had broken him in profound ways.

Would his family recognize him, or would he only be a stranger in their eyes? He had spent so long training himself to never think of his parents or sister that doing so now felt profane. Still, he was not Truthless. He could think of them all he wanted. But did he want to? What if, in his quest to seek out the false leaders of Shinovar and cleanse it of their corrupting influence, he discovered that his family had been involved? What would he do then?

Szeth set those thoughts aside. He had sworn an Oath, and he would see it through to its completion.

When Dalinar Kholin had spoken of this to Szeth, he had been too preoccupied by the imminent Contest of Champions to give Szeth concrete instruction. He’d simply told him to go to Shinovar and, “Do what you see as right.” There was a terrifying amount of freedom in those words.

Szeth would have to see how things currently were in Shinovar before he could make progress toward his goal. He would confront the vagueness of the second half of Dalinar’s orders then. In the meantime, he could obey the first half. He would join the man called Kaladin Stormblessed, and the two of them would fly to Szeth’s home with all possible speed. Szeth did not relish the idea of being in close proximity to Kaladin, but Dalinar had ordered him to do just that. Szeth would obey. He had to trust that Dalinar knew what he was doing.

Well? Szeth’s sword said into his mind. What are we waiting for? We have evil to destroy.

“A great and terrible evil,” Szeth whispered.

The sword hummed in satisfaction. You will draw me to destroy the evil, right?

“We will see, sword-nimi.”

The sword seemed to take that as confirmation, because it hummed again, then fell silent. Szeth picked up the sheathed weapon, slung his pack over his shoulder, and made his way to the plateau from where he and Kaladin Stormblessed would soon leave.

When Szeth walked out onto the plateau, he found Kaladin already waiting there, pacing restlessly back and forth. Szeth glanced toward the eastern horizon, where the top rim of the sun was just becoming visible over the mountains. He was precisely on schedule, but it seemed as though Kaladin had been waiting for some time.

Szeth reluctantly looked at Kaladin directly. The man seemed preoccupied, his eyes staring into the distance. As soon as Szeth met those eyes, however, the man’s expression lost all sense of distractedness, becoming focused and intense.

You should draw me, the sword said to Szeth. We can’t trust him.

“Dalinar ordered me to travel with this man. I will obey his wishes.” Still, Szeth’s hand tightened around the weapon’s hilt. It never hurt to be too careful. If Szeth would be spending time with this man who had claimed the skies, he needed to be absolutely certain that he could be trusted.

Szeth undid the clasp on the swords sheath, then drew it a fraction of an inch.

This is chapter 1. For chapter 2, click here.