V An Alarming Awakening

Shallan Davar

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Shallan’s head was alight with fire, pain that seeping even into the very center of her brain. What had happened? The Oathgate shouldn’t have worked that way. She opened her eyes and thrust a hand up to shield them from the intense glare that shone down on her. The blue and cloudless sky was visible around the edges of her sight. With a start of alarm, she sat up, suddenly heedless of the splitting pain.

The first thing that struck her was the openness of the place, how had it survived being scoured by highstorms? The strange plants surrounding the pool of water seemed entirely lacking in terms of the hard shell required for safety, and some of the largest ones stretched overhead had fronds far too large to be retracted. There was no shielding ridge of rock or gulley, did they sacrifice them every time a storm rolled through? That didn’t seem at all practical, unless…

A bout of dizziness made its presence known, and Shallan steadied herself with her arms. Her free hand brushed loose grains, and she realized that she was sitting on sun-bleached sand. A disturbing thought was bubbling towards the surface of her thoughts as she dug her fingers into it. She held a handful of sand up, watching it scatter away from her outstretched palm. This sand would not stay put during a storm, as she glanced outwards, she could see dunes where lighter winds had likely pushed it into piles.

She took a deep breath, then another, trying to fight back the panic that she could feel rising. There were no highstorms here? Was she even on Roshar anymore? She cast about wildly for any sign of the others. No Kaladin, No Adolin, she seemed to be alone. What had she done, to them, to herself? Was this a trap that Odium had constructed, or had she simply made another terrible mistake?

Shallan sank back down, one arm across her face. She couldn’t do this. Shallan was too tired to keep up with the demands that were being made of her. She was just a foolish girl who thought she could help save the world! An idiot who had bumbled her way through failure after failure into some mockery of success. They had been depending on her to get them out of Kholinar, and now she had no idea what had happened, not to her, not to them. Now she was lost somewhere she didn’t know could exist, with no sign of her friends, no sign of life at all. Shallan couldn’t do this again, she’d only made it to the shattered plains because Tyn had helped her develop Veil.

Veil was more used to this than Shallan was. She’d been nothing before, living by her wits alone in an uncaring world. Veil would be able to find her footing here, not collapse into a useless crying heap like Shallan. With a sniff, Veil sat up rubbing her face with her hand. She got to her feet with a grunt, and cast her gaze about her, ignoring the pain in her head like just another hangover. The strange dunes of sand seemed to stretch on forever. There would be no sense in just wandering out in a direction really. She had gotten incredibly lucky that she had ended up here, where there was water. She walked over to it, briefly searching for a vessel to hold it in, then cursing herself for not having thought to bring one.

She knelt down by the water’s edge, then frowned. Veil still looked like Shallan, with her too red hair and obvious sheltered upbringing. She didn’t have the stormlight to spare for the disguise, she knew that, but it still irritated her. She scooped up some of the water with her freehand, hoping it wasn’t poisoned. It tasted a little bitter, but not enough to be concerning. If she had to be here in a desert for any length of time, it’d be unlikely to be the poison that killed her.

The oasis seemed well abandoned, she decided after a brief circuit around it, though the remains of a firepit suggested that she was not somewhere entirely devoid of civilization. The sun was quite overbearing, Veil wished for her hat and coat instead of Shallan’s frivolous dress. Did she really have no better option than to wait here in the shade for a passerby? After a few moments of consideration, she decided to try scaling one of the larger plants. Again she wished for more practical clothes, the long dress and safehand sleeve proved to make the climbing difficult, but she was in no real rush, and with a slow methodical approached she made it to the top without mishaps.

The sand stretched out before her, baking and shimmering in the heat of the sun. Yellow sand below blue sky, no matter what direction she turned. It was pretty in a way but didn’t provide any solutions to her current predicament. People must have some method for getting around out here, it sure didn’t seem practical to walk the whole distance in this heat on foot. A glimmer of metal out in the desert caught Veil’s eye as she surveyed the area. It wasn’t too far away; with luck she’d still be able to see the oasis to get back to it. Her mind made up, she clambered back down the plant’s trunk, landing on the soft sand with hardly a sound. She reoriented her direction again, then when she was fairly confident that she would be going the right way, Veil set off onto the sunlit dunes.
 

Shallan Davar

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Veil struggled onwards. What else could she do in this endless torment of sand and death. Whatever metal had caught her eye from her vantage point, she had been unable to find it, and by the time she had realized her mistake she had lost her orientation back to the oasis. Shallan would have panicked then, but Veil was able to keep her head level. With no better recourse and a distinctly limited number of resources at her disposal she had decided wandering aimlessly made marginally more sense than simply sitting down and waiting to die. She had sought shelter in the shadow of one of the larger sand dunes Shallan had been so mystified by. They didn't even seem to follow the rules of gravity very well, clinging to one another with enough strength to form a semblance of an overhang, but also crumbling into brittle dust at her touch. Fragile facades of strength.

Fitting.

Finally, the heat of the sun had died down enough that she could venture forth once more, and so she struggled forward across the sand. Her shadow stretched longer and longer in front of her as the light steadily faded into the blueness of dusk. The idea of spending the night so exposed out here on the dunes was far from encouraging, but the stars might at least help her orient herself a bit better. That was all she could do really. Keep making the best decisions she could until she ran out of strength and died out here. It wasn't even that she was being morbid about the situation, she could tell that she'd already been subconsciously pulling in some of the scant stormlight she had left to keep her exhaustion manageable in the heat. Once it ran out she had serious doubts about how much longer she would be able to keep marching in this wretched sand. It didn't even have the decency to hold steady under her boots, making each step just a little more difficult than it needed to be. Just to spite her for daring to trample on it, probably.

Somewhere in the back of Veil's mind, Shallan was getting increasingly concerned by something. Well two things actually. Veil tried to ignore her, Shallan would just panic and wouldn't be able to get out of this alive. Veil needed to do this. Of course, it was just walking... And the sky was... Wrong! Shallan stopped her forward trudging, staring up at the sky with a look of sheer confusion. She had always been able to enjoy the sunset at home in her father's estate. She felt relatively confident that she knew what it looked like. But this sunset was... wrong, somehow. She struggled trying to understand what seemed so off about the sight in front of her. She rubbed at her face with her sleeved safehand, then looked at it again, focusing for a moment on the sunset.

The sky wasn't fading right, she decided, without knowing exactly what made her so confident. No, as she looked closer she was certain she was right. The way that the colors of the setting sun blended with the oncoming darkness was too rigid. It was almost a band across the sky! Storms but it was beautiful. Reflexively, Shallan took a memory of the skyline even though the prospect of having a chance to sketch it seemed quite faint in her current situation.
She laughed a little at her own priorities, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. Now it was time for her to make sure that she survived this situation. As stars started to become visible in the sky above her, she grew increasingly confident that the sky above her was not part of Roshar. This didn't feel like Shadesmar either, though she would need to ask Pattern about that to be sure.

This led into her second concern. She could see Pattern there, His form the mass of lines and angles clinging to the hem of her dress, giving her outfit the appearance of a raised design. She had been so preoccupied with her own panic that she hadn't even noticed that he had yet to say a word for their entire stay here in the desert. She crouched down in the sand, holding up the section of her dress that he clung to.

"Pattern, Are you alright?" She asked a bit hesitantly. His only response was the faintest humming sound, the lines that made up his being vibrated on the surface of her outfit. He was alive at least, though her relief was tempered. His lack of response meant that he was either hurt or that something was interfering with him severely enough that he couldn't put together cohesive thoughts again. She needed to find shelter, somewhere out of the heat of the day. And ideally, she noted with a faint shiver, somewhere that would keep her out of cold of the night as well.

She scrambled up the shallower side of one of the larger dunes she could see. this desert was flat enough that maybe, just maybe she'd see some sign of a destination. The horizon remained as bleak and soul-crushing as ever, even if the temperatures were starting to become even the slightest bit manageable. What was she hoping to find out here? She had no reference... this wasn't Roshar, this wasn't even Shadesmar. She had no way of knowing if there even was anything out here to find.

No! She had seen signs of life. The oasis had been visited by others and there had been a light of something in the sands out there. She forced down her mounting anxiety and refocused her eyes on the horizon. There, another light. It was faint, almost blue, but it looked far closer than she would have guessed. Now, she would try this again, and get it right this time. She made sure she was facing directly towards the light, then slowly made her way down the slope of the dune, dragging her boots in the sand to create bigger tracks. A straight line, she just needed to keep a straight line and she would make it.

In about half an hour she came across what could only assume was the aftermath of a disaster. The vehicle looked reminiscent of a cart, though it was made of metal, and would be far too open to protect against a highstorm if one came through. She was beginning to suspect they were not something that happened here, a thought which had disturbing implications both for Pattern's safety and for her own abilities. Her speculation would wait, however, for the source of the light presented itself as a small blue-skinned figure. Shallan's first thought was of Kaladin's spren, but this figure was too solid to be a windspren. Her eyes were hidden behind long blue hair, and her dress was more elaborate than one would expect for the environment, even less practical than Shallan's own outfit somehow. She turned to face Shallan, who started in surprise. A sapphire gem near the size of her fist was embedded into the being's chest, sitting over her heart.

"Who... what... ah, What has happened here?" Shallan stammered, still trying to make sense of the being in front of her.

"My conveyance has been waylaid and destroyed." The short blue woman answered, gesturing to the ruined metal wagon that was scattered about the nearby sand. Her tone unnervingly at ease for the statement she had just made.

"Now that you have arrived, we may be on our way."

Waylaid? By what? "On our way? Where?"

"To safety. You are the one to rescue me from this tragedy." The answer came almost too fast. Hadn't this person just been through an ordeal? Shallan found herself reminded of Jasnah's unshakeable composure. Was this the level of restraint she should have too?

"How?" She found herself asking. It felt like a stupid question. How was someone supposed to answer that?

"I have foreseen it."

"...Oh."
 

Shallan Davar

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Shallan sat across the small fireplace from the blue-skinned being. She had the color and otherworldliness of a Spren, the sapphire that she wore openly on her chest was eerily reminiscent of a gemheart. She mentally asked Pattern if he recognized her at all, but his response was the same wavering hum as last time. She was still alone in this. But she was a scholar, wasn’t she? She could rely on her own abilities. She turned a critical eye onto the being before her.

She was so still, so… in control. In a faint way, Shallan was reminded of Jasnah. This person had just been part of a serious accident and raid, their fire was a burning piece of the metal carriage’s wreckage, Almighty’s sake! And yet here she sat, dress perfectly aligned, face impassive, hands raised almost daintily towards the fire. Unbelievable!

She also didn’t seem particularly inclined to explain what she had meant by her earlier statement. Shallan fidgeted, tugging at one of the sleeves of her havah as she watched the being, before mentally admonishing herself for the action. She was intimidated by this small thing, why?

Be wary of anyone who claims to foresee the future, Shallan.

“Uhm, I supposed that we should become better acquainted with one another if we are to be travelling together. I am Shallan..." The briefest of hesitations, "...of House Davar.”

“Saph, of Jasper’s Gems.” She replied calmly, "I am a member of Jasper's Court. And you?"

"I'm a K..." a Knight Radiant? Jasnah's ward? A Fraud? Broken? "...a scholar, focusing on the natural histories."

Shallan decided to move the conversation along more quickly, before Saph questioned her on that particular subject any more.

"So why do-“

“Because you will defend me from the bandits who attacked me and stole my guards.”

Shallan blinked.

“Was that your foresight again?” She hazarded with a skeptical brow.

“Had you not finished the question yet? My apologies.” Saph’s tone remained entirely too level for that level of snark. Shallan crossed her arms.

“Perhaps you should just foresee all the questions I’m going to ask and save us both the trouble. It takes effort to be insightful, you know! A full day traipsing about in the sun has left my now-sight extremely tired and we’ll need to travel before the sun rises again.”

“I cannot see the future perfectly.” Saph responded with that increasingly irritating grace.

Another one with no sense of humor! Shallan frowned, You're worse than the Bridgeboy when he's grumping!

“But I can tell you that you are correct, this planet is Mesa Roja, not Roshar, And that I have never experienced what you would call a highstorm.”

“Furthermore, I indeed spoke correctly when I said that the bandits stole my guards. When a Gem is sufficiently injured we cannot maintain our forms. Only the gemstone remains until we recover, a tempting prize for those who are desperate enough to trifle with Jasper.”

Shallan’s eyes darted to the blue stone, a crack running through roughly a third of its facets. Was she imagining it, or did it seem to be dancing with stormlight? Hadn't Saph just said she had never encountered a Highstorm?

“Was yours broken in the fighting?” Shallan asked.

“Yes. The first raiders were content to claim the undamaged gemstones. The ones who intercept us on the way to the hive will be more desperate. Less… discerning, if you will.”

“I see.” Storms, talking to someone like this was frustrating!

“It will be you, however, the one desiring it most desperately, who leaves with my stone, in the end.”

Shallan blushed furiously. Did she just accuse me of stealing from her in the future? How do I even respond to something like that!

“Erm… Gemstones allow me to conserve stormlight for longer periods of time, it's true. But I wasn’t planning to…”

“Not yet.” Saph interjected with the same blank forcefulness that interrupted Shallan’s words, “We should sleep. As you said, we will need to travel during the night. At least, As you intend to say.”

With that, Saph rose primly away from the fire, hands gripping the hem of her dress as she moved towards the shelter of the shallow rocky crevice. Shallan watched her go, equal parts incredulous and irritated. At least Jasnah let you ask the question before telling you it was a stupid one!

A part of her, the Veil part most likely, wanted to leave this blue-skinned lighteyes to fend for herself out here, but she didn’t know of any destination better than the hive that Saph had mentioned. It was a foolish reaction to want to strike out on her own again the instant she found the first sign of civilized people. So foolish that it might well have been the Shallan part of her, and not the Veil part at all. Veil knew better than that, surely.

With a tired sigh, Shallan left the fire behind, moving towards the shelter of the rocks. She tried her utmost to set aside her concerns for the others, for Kaladin and Adolin. For her team, they hadn’t been able to rescue Kholinar. They had failed, and it was possible that the others were all dead now. She pulled herself in a tighter ball, mentally ignoring those concerns until they faded from her mind, and she was able to try and get some sleep.
 

Shallan Davar

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They awoke sooner than Shallan would have wanted to. It wasn’t that the sand was especially comfortable, mind you, just that she hadn’t fully recovered from the previous days events. Now forced to admit that she hadn’t imagined this whole encounter, she reflexively drew in some stormlight. Her fatigue evaporated immediately as the storm swirled inside of her. She immediately chastised herself for the foolish action. She had no idea how, if at all, she would be able to acquire more stormlight without a highstorm. And here she had used it to shake off some drowsiness? Storms, she had gotten too accustomed to it.

She got up, ignoring how disheveled she was likely becoming. That was only a problem for Shallan. Radiant was confident she would look good regardless and Veil didn’t care. She knew the situation didn’t allow for propriety; nobody would expect her to look her best out here in the storming desert!

Saph walked around the corner, her dress spotless and arms folded pleasantly together in front of her. Shallan groaned in frustration and would have hid her head under her pillow had she possessed one.

“You are awake. Good.” Saph spoke without much question in her voice.

“I have it on good authority that I am, in fact, a girl.” Shallan responded as she got to her feet, brushing sand off of her havah with her freehand. the pouched safehand holding her satchel of spheres and drawing supplies.

“Though I suppose there’s little enough water around here that wakes could be difficult to recognize. I do hope you aren’t claiming I am large enough to leave trails like a ship!”

Once again Saph gave no indication she registered Shallan’s attempt at humor. Her blank gaze from behind the bangs of her hair caused Shallan to slump slightly in dejection. Storming, blue-skinned doll this one!

“So! Which way are we heading?” Shallan forced some enthusiasm into her words and adjusted the strap of her satchel.

“You are to be the one who will lead us to the hive, Shallan.” Saph responded calmly. Shallan rolled her eyes, then peered around at the moon-lit dunes and canyons.

“Uhhh, let’s go… that way?” She pointed more or less at random.

“That path will lead into danger. We will not reach the hive.” Saph responded almost immediately, her voice still that same frustrating level of calm.

“That way then?” Shallan pointed again. Saph merely shook her head.

“Do I have to keep pointing until you say I’m right? Because I can state with confidence that there are a storming lot of ways not to get to a place!” When Saph did not reply, Shallan pointed again. “What about that way?”

“That path leads to Karim, where I travelled from.”

“Brilliant. Which direction was your hive from Karim?”

“North by northeast.”

Shallan started to trace a line with her hands, perhaps she could triangulate a....

“…Though we did not travel directly towards it from Karim. The canyons require some deviations from a direct path.”

Shallan’s arm dropped as her excitement faded. How was she going to find the hive at this rate?

Sky lights… came the faint voice of Pattern in her head, Arranged….hmmmmmmm….. A pattern…

Constellations! Of course!
Shallan thought excitedly, glancing down at the Cryptic, currently residing as a spiraled geometric design on her havah. Are you alright, by the way?

mmmmm….. murky….
Was the spren’s distant reply.

Shallan frowned, but decided it was probably better to let him rest for now. She turned back to Saph, who continued to wait as though time had no meaning for her. For all Shallan could tell it probably didn’t. Storms, being able to see the future was unnatural!

“Are there any constellations that we could use to orient ourselves?”

“The four-pronged deer prances over the hive from Karim.” Saph nodded, turning in place before she pointed up towards the sky, then down in a direction that Shallan could have sworn she had already pointed.

“Great! Let’s get going then! The sooner we find these troubles the sooner I can magically do exactly what you already knew I was going to do!”

“Your decisions are not known to me Shallan. You are too…. tangled… to predict far into the future. In most cases at least. Only some parts of your future are clear.”

Like when you accused me of robbing you? Cases like that? Shallan thought. There was the quietest humming from Pattern in her mind.

“Glad I can keep things interesting for the both of us.” She grumbled as the pair started to trek through the silvery dunes. There were some canyon-esque rocks ahead at least, that would be better than wandering through all this shifty and loose sand. She was growing increasingly certain that there was more of it in her boots than out at this point.

Saph didn’t exactly make for the best of conversational partners, so Shallan’s attention drifted to her surroundings. The dunes and rocks didn’t make for the most interesting of observations, so eventually, her gaze drifted upwards into the night sky. Storms, but you could see a lot of sky out here in the desert!

They weren’t her stars, weren’t Roshar’s stars. A part of her wanted to critique them on principle because of it, but her admiration won over pretty quickly, and she eventually pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil. It proved unpleasantly difficult to map stars by hand as she walked. A palanquin would be a blessing, not just to rest her aching feet, but also to get a more stable position to work from. Of course, if she had that, she wouldn’t be lost in the desert with a half-sized, blue-skinned heretic.

“Can you tell me about the constellations of… Mesa Roja, you said?”

“I can.”

“…will you tell me about the constellations of Mesa Roja then?”

“Very well.” Saph responded with her same even calmness, “First is the amphora of the three queens…”

---​

This topic ended up occupying more time than Shallan was initially expecting. Saph proved to be almost unnaturally familiar with the astrological topography of their surroundings. Shallan actually managed to fill a few pages worth of notes and rough sketches, the later of which were truly awful. She made a mental note to sit down some time and try to reproduce them properly. Only one or two of them even bore a passing resemblance to a constellation she could claim was similar to one from Roshar, and none of them held up to more than the most casual of inspections as comparable. There was no doubt then. Wherever this Mesa Roja was, it wasn’t somewhere else on the planet. It also didn’t have the same impression as Shadesmar. A faint hum emanated from Pattern at that. Where had she ended up?

“Mesa Roja…. Where is it?” She eventually asked Saph, as they descended the last of the dunes and the more familiar walls of rocky canyon started to rise up to either side of them.

“The Crossroads.” She replied with the tone Shallan had decided to call the intentional non-answer.

“Oh I see!” Shallan adopted a biting sweetness in response.

“I should warn you Saph, that I have a propensity for stubbornness in the face of dismissals. I’ve made some very stubborn people relent in the past. If you continue not to answer my questions to my satisfaction, I may be forced to unleash my powerful repetitive abilities upon you!”

Shallan grinned victoriously when Saph actually looked in her direction at the threat. No spren? She realized, her momentary triumph lapsing into confusion as she glanced about. A feeling that strong would normally have attracted a gloryspren or two, yet there had been… nothing? Pattern hummed once again from her havah. It almost sounded like a whimper.

“A collection of planets.” Saph elaborated, turning back towards the path ahead, “protected and curated by the Arbiters, as the legends say. The grand picture matters little in the long run to us. We are simply here to live undisturbed.”

“Well ain’t that a right an’ cryin’ shame, little shinepurse!” Came a voice from the cliffside above them. Shallan looked up in surprise, spotting a trio of silhouettes against the star crusted sky. Storms, they looked mean, hungry even. Shallan subtly lifted the cover of her satchel to see how much stormlight she had remaining for dealing with them. Her face paled as she saw only the darkness of dun spheres inside. How long had it been since the last highstorm, then however long she had been here… Storms! She glanced back up as the trio began to rappel down the side of the canyon towards them. There was no time to hesitate now.

“Run!”

She grabbed Saph’s hand and began to sprint down the canyon.
 

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Shallan’s havah billowed around her legs as she raced down the moonlit canyon, Saph in tow. Veil’s coat and pants would be so much better right now! Of course, that might not change anything, Saph was struggling to keep up with Shallan even like this. She glanced backwards towards the blue-skinned gem. Only three feet in height, she was being pulled along by Shallan’s longer strides, barely keeping her feet underneath her. Storms, they couldn’t keep this pace up for long, and it didn’t seem like it would be enough even if they coukld! She hadn’t gotten a good look at their pursuers, but from the indistinct shouting behind her they were already gaining on them.

Her eyes darted anxiously about in the moonlight, looking for something, anything that they could use. It was dark, maybe if they could find a crevice or something they could hide in? The canyon floor they had been following curved up ahead, for a few moments they would be out of sight of their pursuers. If She’d had any Stormlight left she could have created a light weaving of a rock to hide inside, easily. Storms, she had been so careless not to monitor her spheres. Not that she could have done anything to prevent the stormlight from fading, technically. But even knowing just how dire a situation they were in would be better than this!

Her eye caught a narrow branch leading off of the main canyon up ahead. Without waiting to consider she charged toward it directly, practically hurling Saph through it as she pulled the Gem around and sent her through first. Storms it was tight! Barely two feet in some parts! The pair side-stepped forwards as the sounds of their assailants reached the edge of the side passage. If they kept going down the main route, then maybe they wouldn’t even realize they’d been given the slip! Reflexively, Shallan tried to create a lightweaving behind her, but the only response was a high-pitched whine from Pattern in her mind. Right, of course, no Stormlight. They continued to squeeze their way through the narrow tunnel when Shallan heard the words she had been dreading for several seconds.

“They went in here!” came a gruff voice from behind them. Shallan glanced behind her, two of their pursuers were now following them down the side route, though the largest of the trio seemed to be too big to fit. There was a sound of something metal clanking into stone from behind them. Was he trying to dig his way through?

“C’mere shinepurse! You’re makin’ this extra difficult for no reason!” One of the pursuers sneered, the scant moonlight glinting off of metal and a nasty smile.

Shallan squinted ahead desperately, trying to predict the flow of this niche in the rock. They would be cornered in here if the inlet got much narrower. If these canyons were like the chasms of the shattered plains they might connect up with a wider route again, but if this was just the tributary flow of some long-dead river than it would provide them with no means of escape.

There was an earsplitting crack from behind them and an explosion in the stone near Shallan’s head. Shards of rock and dust sprinkled down on her as she glanced back in alarm. The one with the nasty smile was holding a device in one hand, still trailing with smoke. A fabrial maybe?

“That were your one an’ only warning shot!” He shouted with a whoop of excitement.

“It widens, Shallan!” came a shout from Saph up ahead. “Left or right?”

You’re the storming future-seeing heretic, you tell me! “Left!” She hollered.

They burst out of the narrow space into a forked path. A tall spire of wind-beaten stone stood at the forefront of the rock splitting the path in two. A shadow passed over the moonlight and Shallan glanced up to see the third member of the group racing along the edge of the rock wall above them. He was holding a strange device affixed with a grapple of some sort. Storms, he must have climbed after them! She slowed down, glancing back towards the rocky spire at the point of the fork. It was close to the entrance of the narrow space, where the two of their pursuers would be coming out.

She turned, dashing back towards the rock, leaving Saph behind. A single slash of her Shardblade would be enough at the right angle. It would bring the rock down and seal their route cleanly! She brought her hand out to the side, but Pattern simply whimpered, instead of forming the slender blade she was expecting.

The Shardblade… Shallan’s breath grew uneven. Her mother, dead there on the ground, eyes smoking. Pattern’s humming filled her ears, an urgent and pleading call. Father…




“Shallan!” Saph’s demanding voice brought Shallan’s thoughts back to the forefront of her mind.

“I said hands inna air, Shinepurse!”

Shallan blinked, registering the man pointing the destructive fabrial at her. She raised her freehand and sleeved safehand to either side of her head. Storms, how long had she been standing there? The three of men had caught up, and now had Saph and her cornered against the wall of the canyon.

“Right! Tha’s more like it!” grinned the holder of the destructive fabrial, “Now before we take this litt’l gem o’ ours, why don’t you go an’ hand o’er any other valuables ye gots on yer possession?”
 

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Shallan’s mind raced as she stared down the barrel of the strange destructive fabrial. At the other end was the bandit who had been so chatty during the chase. He was desperate alright, tattered clothes and a hungry look in the eye. The only nice thing he had on him was his scarf. The second of the three seemed perpetually hunched over and had a penchant for lurking on rocks to keep at the same height as everyone else. He was perched on one right now, rifling through Shallan’s satchel with a distinct lack of care. He had found her spheres right away, and the three bandits had been mildly stunned that one person wandering out here would hold so much wealth. Apparently, the gemstones within her spheres were not a common currency here.

They were now stowed on his person, though it wasn’t like she could use them anyway, they’d all gone dun already. The largest of the of the bandit trio, the one Shallan thought of as cheek fuzz, since that seemed to be the only hair he could grow, had a hold of Saph. She had the sense not to struggle, as he was lifting the half-sized heretic off the ground by the back of her dress, keeping her toes a good foot or more above the ground. They had said something about taking her gem. Was it like a gemheart? Were they planning to kill her?

“Ooo!” Hunchy held up a length of red fabric from Shallan’s satchel, “Here’s an extra somethin’ somethin’ fer you, Carcos!” He waved the length of cloth in the air, and Veil had to physically resist the urge to snatch her scarf from his grimy fingers. How bad could that fabrial be? She could take a hit!

Without stormlight? Shallan wasn’t as sure that was a good idea. That destructive fabrial had been able to break stone earlier, and the sound it had made! It would be better to try and keep this diplomatic at possible. Radiant agreed with the caution, though she had very distinct opinions on dealing with scum like this, even despite their disadvantage.

“Catch!” Hunchy tossed Veil’s scarf to the bandit threatening her with the fabrial. He glanced away for an instant to catch it out of the air. Shallan hesitated. Before she could move, he whipped his head back towards her warily. Storms, had that been her opening? The bandits were ostensibly here after Saph, maybe if she just kept quiet they would be content just to rob and leave her here, though being stranded once again was not the most enticing of outcomes. No, she was going to talk her way out of this.

“That was quite a bit of money.” Shallan started a bit tentatively. Where was she even going with this? “That much coin will be missed by somebody, and it’s in an unusual currency at that. Are you sure it’s a good idea to just wander off with that? It’ll be easy to track when you try to actually spend any of it.”

The three bandits shared a look, then Scarf narrowed his eyes at her.

“Yer talkin’ like we should be scared o’ Jasper’n her crew? We know who we’re robbin’!”

“I never said I was aligned with Jasper.” Shallan attempted to act nonchalant, crossing her arms and trying to ignore the weapon still aimed at her face. Maybe Veil should be the one to handle this discussion? She was better at keeping her cool than Shallan, that was certain. Veil also still wanted to start swinging, however.

“Oh yah! Who’re ye claimin’ has got’cher back, little shinepurse?”

Storms, she didn’t know anyone else who she could pretend to be associated with.

“I’d be in worse shape than I already am if I revealed them.” She answered swiftly.

Scarf and Hunchy were both scrutinizing her now. She’d at least managed to unsettle them. Cheek fuzz was keeping a hold of Saph still, who had been perfectly still the entire time. Benefits of being a heretical fortune-teller, Shallan supposed. It meant that Saph didn’t have to stress about-

With a grunt of effort, Saph swung her entire body backwards, managing to land a kick to the large man’s gut. He dropped her with a grunt. And Saph landed on the hard stone of the canyon floor. She got to her feet but did not immediately dash away like Shallan had been hoping she intended to do. What is she storming thinking! Before even Veil could react, Scarf whirled around and activated the destructive fabrial. There was a loud bang that made Shallan want to cover her ears, then Saph snapped backwards. Her already cracked gemheart snapped almost in half, a large chunk of it arcing up into the air, catching the moonlight as Saph fell to the ground with a thud.

In a panic Shallan rushed over, stepping in between Saph and Scarf’s fabrial. Saph seemed in shock, hands clasped over the remains of her broken gem. Shallan picked up the piece that had broken off of it in mild disbelieve. Breaking a crystal structure like this would require so much force! She looked back at the weapon in Scarf’s hand. The end of it was still trailing smoke as he gave a crow of triumph.

“See that there! That’s what ya get fer messing wit’ the Bulls o’ the blind canyon! Keepin’ all yer smart talk will get ye a shot! Now get out outta the way shinepurse our you’ll be next!”

Strength before Weakness.

Shallan turned back to Scarf, getting to her feet. She held the broken shard of Saph’s gem in her hand, gripping it so tightly that its sharp edge stabbed into her safehand sleeve.

“She wasn’t running. She was standing still.” Shallan spoke with a low voice, “There was no reason for doing that.”

Scarf squinted at her.

“Whossit to you, Shinepurse?”

“Leave us alone. Storms, you can keep the satchel of spheres! It’s worth more than whatever you could get from Saph’s gem anyway!”

“I warned ye!” Scarf scowled, shaking the fabrial slightly, but his confidence was eroding. Hunchy and Cheek fuzz had backed up a short distance, equally unsure what was about to happen. That’s good! Shallan thought If I can push this a bit further than maybe they-

Scarf shot her in the face.

Storms.

Shallan reeled backwards, pain exploding in her head. Instinctively she tried to take in stormlight, knowing that she didn’t have any. She blinked in surprise as the storm swirled to life inside of her. Her dulling thoughts crystalized back into clarity, and she planted her foot, stopping herself mid-collapse. The ball of metal, She could feel it lodged in her jaw still. That was what the fabrial did? Where had she managed to find stormlight? Focus! She needed to focus!

Shallan’s head had snapped upwards and back at the initial impact. She straightened up, fixing her gaze on Scarf as she spit the metal ball back onto the ground. All three of them looked appropriately shocked by her response, but Shallan internally panicked as she saw a couple of her teeth clatter to the ground alongside the bullet.

Oh Almighty, please no! I need to put those back in before the stormlight heals over the gums!

Doing her best look of deliberate, controlled motion, Shallan stooped down. She never stopped staring at Scarf, who was now trembling slightly, wide-eyed.

“Wha- wha… what kind of…” He stammered, his grip on the fabrial slipping somewhat.

Shallan held up a finger to quiet him, scooping up the teeth of the stone floor. Storms, she hoped they were her teeth, it was hard to tell with only the moonlight to go by. Her fingers felt clumsy as she tried to reseat the teeth into her jaw. Shallan struggled to keep her composure as she thought about it, but at the very least the bandits seemed to find it equally disturbing. There, they were staying, thank the Heralds! The bandits were on the verge of breaking, they kept shifting their footing and glancing at one another. Veil wanted her to just stab the three of them with the shard of gemheart and be done with it. She felt surprisingly confident she could do it, and they’d gotten their hands on her favorite scarf.

Life before death

No, Shallan had said she would get through this situation diplomatically.

“Now then!” She said, Stormlight drifting off of her skin in motes of light and wisping from her mouth as she spoke, “This would be the moment where I say something witty and intimidating to prove that you don’t stand a chance in a fight. But as it happens, I don’t have anything coming to mind and I’m starting to suspect that you wouldn’t even appreciate a joke that was halfway-decent. So I’m going to just settle for a demonstration!”

She punched the rock wall besides her, mentally wincing at the blossom of pain from broken knuckles but also pleased with the noticeable radius of cracks that the punch had left in the stone. It proved to be equally impressive for the bandits. The three of them scrambled over one another to put distance between them and the glowing woman they’d just shot in the head.

They still have my spheres! Shallan realized as she watched their fleeing backs disappear into the darkness. The stormlight within her was dwindling, healing was always something that used it quickly, but her hand began to heal regardless. Losing those spheres could be a very big problem here if they weren't common. Well, there was nothing she could do about it now, at least they had left her satchel and-

With a sudden start, Shallan turned back to Saph, who still lay on her back, her tiny gloved hands clasped over her broken gemstone.

“Oh, Oh! Saph, can you hear me!” She tried to put the shard of gemstone she had been holding back into place, but it was discolored from the stormlight she just now realized she had drawn from it, and it didn’t stay in place.

“Come on, It would be really terrible of you to do something that you knew would get yourself killed!” Shallan pleaded, her panic rising, “What do I do?”

“Continue to be mysterious…” Came Saph’s weak voice as the gem shifted slightly on the ground, “…Shallan of house Davar.”

Shallan breathed a sigh of relief, what would she have done alone out here again?

“Are you alright? I don’t know how you gems work…”

“I will survive, at least long enough for us to reach the Hive.”

“A-alright… can you stand?”

“It is upon your back that we will reach the hive.”

“… fine.” Shallan felt too much relief and exhaustion to argue, and positioned the smaller blue being to be carried on her back. Storms, she shouldn’t be this light. What was she? Legs a bit shaky from the adrenaline and stormlight wearing out, Shallan got back to her feet and started to move down the canyon.

Journey before Destination.
 

Shallan Davar

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Shallan awoke in her cage feeling miserable. She shifted slightly, trying to decide whether she had actually managed to rest at all in such an uncomfortable little alcove, and whether she could manage any more. Eventually surrendering her desire for sleep to her unwelcome awareness and sat up. The alcove remained as empty as ever, though her bored scratchings of characterized gems were steadily spreading along the left wall. The energy field that kept her contained here was continuing its insipid humming. Shallan considered her patience for background noise to be excellent and given Pattern’s predeliction towards humming she had gotten particularly good at those noises. But storms she wanted to scream if those gems left her here much longer!
Shallan could tell they were unnerved by what had happened to Saph. Though they had managed to reseat the broken part of her stone back together, it still remained dull and lustorless from when Shallan had pulled stormlight from it and had fallen out again in a matter of hours. Shallan was somewhat worried about what this implied about Saph herself, but Shallan had also saved her life in the first place, so the larger part of her was still quite indignant about this storming cage they had stuck her in!
With a snarl, she threw one of the loose rock chips from the ground at it, causing the yellow energy field to warp and hiss as it dissolved the stone fragments. There was a faint resonance from Pattern in her mind at the sound, but his humming lapsed back into silence soon after. Shallan was getting worried about him. Wherever she had ended up, it seemed not to follow any of the rules of Roshar. Pattern was clearly still reeling from whatever the jump had done to him. He had occasionally voiced a stray thought to her, but for the most part he seemed to be acting like when their bond was first forming, existing in an only semi-conscious state, an amorphous pattern clinging to various surfaces around her. He was on the ceiling right now, transforming the otherwise flat and uninspiring stone into a complex spiral of lines, raised ever so slightly above the surface of wherever the stone would normally be. She watched him rest there on the ceiling, pattern coiling and shifting slowly, never quite stabilizing, but still distinctly his pattern all the same.
Are you feeling any better? She hazarded the question mentally towards him, Now that we’ve rested a few… however long they’ve kept us cooped up in this storming yellow-tinted corner?
Three cycles.
Pattern replied distantly, but that clarification was all that Shallan managed to coax from him besides the occasional vibrating hum. Eventually she gave up and returned to her doodling on the alcove walls. The gems had taken her satchel and sketchbook, so in revenge she had begun to draw them in decisively unflattering manners on the wall of her cell. It probably wasn’t helping their opinion of her, but at this point she saw little reason to be a model prisoner. She had saved one of their lighteyes after all! If they were at all grateful for that they had an especially strange way of showing it. The pearls who brought her meals and the ruby that kept watch outside the alcove all seemed interested in keeping as far away from her as possible.
As she thought about it more, Shallan became more and more convinced that the gems simply weren’t sure what to do with her. They were quite clearly unnerved by what she had done to Saph’s gemheart, but the sapphire’s account could really only place Shallan in a positive light. She had been storming nice to that blue-skinned heretic! Carried her all the way here to the hive after that incident with the bandits. But then again, she had also done something strange to Saph in the process, None of the gems she had explained the situation to seemed at all familiar with surgebindng, nor had any of them heard of stormlight, of highstorms to begin with. It made it rather difficult to explain that she hadn't simply stolen some of Saph’s life force like a vampire. Storms... she hadn’t done something like that, had she? The gems seemed almost spren-like in their oversimplified perspectives of how the world operated, could they be some sort of distant cousin, using a gemstone to exist in the physical realm?
There was an amused humming from Pattern, but when she located him on the energy field of the cell her attention was drawn by the presence of Saph outside of her cell. Pattern was
Saph remained silent at first, long enough that Shallan thought she was doing so purposefully to unnerve her. Well, she was feeling petty enough to be equally uncooperative, and turned back to the wall and her sketches.
“We are not sure what you are.” Saph spoke eventually, and though Shallan didn’t stop her etchings, she slowed down to listen,
“That my gem had been severed was not of your doing. It was weakened in the crash, then shattered by the bandit’s gun, this much is clear to me. What you did to it afterwards is… less so… You tapped it for power, though it should have contained none, and rendered it inert beyond our skills here to repair.”
Shallan stopped scratching the wall with the stone chip and turned back to face Saph directly.
"And you want to know if I did something to you, is that right?”
Saph gave a rare, faint smile.
“I must be quite desperate; it is rare for someone to predict a sapphire instead of the reverse.”
Shallan pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them.
“I don’t think I will be able to explain this in a way that you gems want, Saph. I don’t even think I understand what exactly I did.”
“Did you steal a part of my soul, Shallan of House Davar?”
The Vorin-raised girl flinched at the question being asked so matter-of-factly. Saph had just called her a voidbringer…
“I… don’t know… I shouldn’t have… At least, I don’t think it is something I can do… But you don’t have stormlight here, like on Roshar, so I can’t say I know exactly what I am doing here.”
“Then you were not banished from the towns of this place? Few of your kind treat with us without no other recourse,”
Shallan shook her head.
“I arrived here in Mesa Roja only shortly before finding you.”
Saph nodded once then turned to the side.
“Near enough to my foreseen responses. Were her answers satisfactory?” She asked the large, green-skinned gem that moved out of the periphery of the cell’s view.
“Good enough for the test.” The new gem nodded, light glinting off of visored eyes.
“Let’s see if she steals the souls of humans too.”
 

Shallan Davar

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There wasn’t a stop to the warring.
Shallan had done everything that she could to prevent the Everstorm, and she’d failed. She’d tried to help Elhrokar rescue Kholinar, to save those poor people from the Singers. Now she was lost in another world without Adolin or Kaladin, without her brothers. She’d lost everything again and there was still conflict.
The Gems were raiding a settlement of moisture farmers, looking for prisoners for the proposed ‘test’ of her Surgebinding. She could see the smoke from the window of the egg-like walking vehicle they had sealed her inside. Shallan would have been fascinated by the technology in other circumstances, but as it was she could only watch as the gems quickly overpowered the resistance that the farmers had managed to erect.
Life before Death.
They wanted to see what would happen if she tried to draw stormlight out of a person. She was getting increasingly nervous about how damaging her powers could be if she tried. Stormlight didn’t work that way, did it? Pattern continued to hum in her mind. She had no way of knowing how things worked completely back on Roshar, let alone here. Storms, she’d only had these powers a few months, Jasnah would scold her for claiming to say she knew what her powers even did with any sort of precision.
Shallan turned away from the window, wishing she could block out the sounds of the fighting. She curled up into a ball at the bottom of the pod-vehicle. She wanted to simply forget about all of it. Shallan was too weak, too tired to claw her way up from nothing again. She clutched her hands to the side of her head, squeezing her eyes tightly as she could. Pattern’s buzzing filled her ears.
Radiant wouldn’t give up though. She had sworn oaths, she would stand up again. Taking a deep breath, Radiant sat up, assessing her surroundings with a faint frown. She would have to make do with Shallan’s now quite travel-worn havah, though the dress would be impractical for running or fighting.
So perhaps a less confrontational approach? Veil hummed, poking at the glass window with a finger.
She blinked.
No, no, Veil wasn’t taking charge, she simply wanted to get away from all this. Besides, she was still mourning the loss of her scarf, and the spheres. That was simply advice, this would be up to Radiant’s adamant will to overcome. She looked around the strange pod. The thing seemed like it was not intended as a mobile prison, there was too much in here that looked functional.
These gem creatures have technology that would make the queen faint, I suspect. Radiant mused.
The whole thing seemed to be a fabrial of some kind, just one that the gems had modified so as to keep her trapped here, rather than the self-moving wagon it seemed designed to be.
Radiant glanced out the window of her pod-cell. There were two of the red gem people guarding her. It seemed like all that kind did was guard things and fight things. Shallan would have been curious about the implications of Gem culture, but Radiant was simply glad they were so distracted by the raid they clearly wanted to be fighting in. She could escape this prison quickly, and be away before they were any the wiser. Radiant stretched her hand out to her side, Calling Pattern to form her shardblade. His only response was the piteous humming he had done earlier in the canyon. Radiant frowned and dropped her arm back to her side.
Pattern, Radiant thought with an authoritative compassion, Shallan has been avoiding this question for some time now.
Radiant ignored Shallan’s rising panic as well as her demands that Radiant change the subject.
What has happened to you?
Pattern’s buzzing echoed in her mind.
I… Do not know…
He sounded distant, murky. Radiant forged ahead, while inside her Shallan’s hysteria only grew at the potential answers she was about to receive.
Is your bond weakened? Has Shallan done this to you?
No…
Pattern’s reply was slow, but confident, and Shallan breathed a sigh of immense relief before resuming Radiant’s stoic countenance. Pattern continued, voice still buzzing in and out of focus.
I believe our bond… is all that sustains me now…
Shallan would know more about the implications of that statement no doubt, but Radiant wasn’t sure what that meant. No matter. If Pattern was in danger, she would protect him more.
Perhaps you should stick to me closer, Pattern, while you’re recovering. You seem much more able to talk right now than you did when we were in the hive’s cell.
Mmmmmm….
Pattern buzzed in agreement, I will explore… Less… until my mind is stronger.
Radiant gave a firm nod, then turned her attention back to the task of escaping. The theoretical door of this pod had sealed itself tightly, there was no sign of a crack or fracture she could pry. There was an array of tiles to one side however, that she could press into the wall.
A lock of some kind perhaps? Radiant frowned at the thought. It seemed far too much like something Shallan would guess.
Mmmm… Pattern seemed to agree with her either way. The geodesic array of lines that made up his being slid down her arm to cling onto the panel, giving it an uneven and textured appearance.
What do you see? Radiant asked with the mental equivalent of a formal stoic tone.
Tiles depressed… some more worn than others from frequent use…Scrapings… intentional confusions… A pattern.
As the mass of lines slid over the panel, several of the tiles lit in a sequence that Radiant didn’t recognize as anything significant, but when Pattern was done the pod responded with a quiet rumbling and several more lights appeared around the walls. The two rubies guarding her looked back in surprise, but Radiant had already seized what she believed to be the controls. This vehicle would leave them behind quickly. As the rubies rushed towards the door, the scout pod turned mobile cell raised up onto its stubbed legs. Then promptly pitched over onto its side.
Storms! Radiant should have known better than to try that! What did they know about driving a Gem vehicle? They’d never even driven a Chull-cart! Shallan pushed open the hatch, which had unlocked with the rest of the controls.
“Escape!” a shout came from nearby. Shallan’s head whipped towards the sound and she noticed that Radiant’s accident had at least managed to fall on the rubies, pinning them both beneath the vehicle they had imprisoned her inside. They wouldn’t be trapped for long though, she needed to get away, now. Cursing the havah’s long lengths once again, Shallan darted towards the cover of some of the outer sheds. She rushed inside one of the sandstone buildings, ducking around into the shadows of the corner. It was disgraceful tactics, running and hiding like this, but she was weaponless, and could not afford to be captured again. The ruby colored gemstones did not appear to be especially smart, as her pursuers rushed past her hiding place with barely a second glance. She might actually get away with this. If she could find some of the refugees from the farmstead, maybe she could…
“Disabling encryptions from gem technology, despite possessing not a single hint of electronic technology yourself. Perry did not believe it was possible….” Shallan froze as Saph stepped around the corner of the shed with the same grace as always.
“....But you foresaw it.” Shallan grimaced.

Pattern has used Shallan's application of Focus to successfully deduce the method the Gems were using to disable the pod's control panels and lock Shallan inside.
 

Shallan Davar

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Radiant railed impotently inside of Shallan’s mind, frustrated that Shallan would hide her away without warning. Did Shallan think she would be the best one for handling Saph? Truly?
The gem was standing there, exceptionally composed as always, even amidst the chaos of their surroundings. Jasnah had always seemed the same way back in Kharbranith. Always in control, guiding and conducting herself with poise and purpose while Shallan scrambled and clung to the fracturing pieces of her life and self. She wouldn’t let it splinter further.
“Foresaw it?” Saph spoke, bringing Shallan back to the moment at hand with a blink. “You may think that if you wish to.”
“It’s always been about what I think, hasn’t it?” Shallan furrowed her brow.
Jasnah hadn’t been all knowing, she had been stressed near to breaking by the burden of stopping the voidbringers. She hadn’t expected the ghostbloods to attack either. Storms, Shallan herself had managed to steal her soulcaster! Jasnah wasn’t infallible; and that meant Saph wasn’t either.
“You were the one needing help, Saph, and I was the one providing it. You have no idea whether I stole part of your soul or whatever claim you were making to lock me up. None of you do! You’re just scared, so you put me in a cage until you could come up with a plan. After all, you saw firsthand that I don’t die like normal people do. Better not to risk things in a full fight.”
Pattern hummed from the collar of Shallan’s havah, enjoying her bluff. Saph remained impassive as always. The broken piece of her gemheart hung on a necklace, hanging just about in line with the other half. Storms, it bothered Shallan how impervious her gaze could seem, Just like Jasnah’s. There was nothing to read, no hint of what they were thinking, feeling, anything. It left you to squirm in your own words while they figured out how best to skewer your arguments.
“I do not believe you truly understand my power or position as a sapphire gem, Shallan of house Davar.” She spoke finally, with the simple authority of people very used to being listened to.
Well, Shallan was done listening.
“I know that seeing the future is of Odium, my enemy. A very smart man warned me to be very careful of anyone who claimed such powers.”
“Yes, I am a keeper of the future, but I do not carry it out.”
“Quite the opposite in my aching experience.” Shallan commented with crossed arms. Was Saph just trying to delay her until more guards arrived? If she had known Shallan would do this, why not keep some soldiers with her to wait? Something wasn't adding up here. Patter buzzed a distant agreement.
“My burden,” Saph continued, “Is to know the future. My duty is to inform those with the capacity to shape it. There are myriad futures and prophecies we must navigate, Shallan of house Davar. It was foreseen that a soul-devourer would find our people, and either lead us to conquests or slaughter us all.”
Shallan paled.
“And you think that’s me? She stammered, I w-”
“What I think is not relevant, Shallan. Our leader held that choice before here, but does not wish to face that future yet. And so by her inaction, you are afforded the means to escape this conflict. Your potential fate is left unclear. You remain mysterious Shallan, only one aspect of your departure was known to me with certainty.”
Saph reached her hands behind her neck, unclasping the necklace that held the broken portion of her gemstone. She walked forwards, extending the necklace towards Shallan in offering.
“I foresaw that you would be the one to leave this place with my gemstone.”
Shallan was caught between suspicion and appreciation, her thoughts refusing to align on a single response.
“You threw me in a cell over this!” Was the only statement she could settle on, though even that accusation seemed more confused than biting.
“I was not the one to decide anything, as I have said, decision is not the role I play.”
Shallan squinted at the necklace being handed to her.
“This feels pretty decisive, Saph.”
The blue-toned gem shook her head.
“I am merely keeping the future as it has been seen to be. And…” She hesitated briefly, “..if it is actually the case that you now hold part of my soul Shallan, I would rest easier knowing that you kept both container and essence together with you. Perhaps something can be done to restore them?”
Pattern buzzed as Shallan slowly took the necklace, holding it clenched in her freehand as she frowned at Saph. Her next words were quiet, almost a thought spoken aloud than a real question.
“If I am really so dangerous, why let me leave at all? Why not just kill me?”
Saph took a few steps back, face as serene as ever, resting her hands together in front of her.
“Because you are a mystery among mysteries, Shallan of house Davar. Every future I see about you leaves me more perplexed. You walk in solitude but are never alone. You have fought Unmade, this I know for certain, yet you have not met the Unmaking. You claim powers from the storms, yet draw them still form the cloudless sky. If you perish then I shall only have questions, I will not ever have answers.”
“You are one who seeks the truth,...”
Shallan said, recalling the phrase from months past. Saph nodded once, then waved her hand to one side.
“You must leave within the minute or be caught. Follow the trail of the refugees and you will find a route to civilized lands, circuitous though it may be.”
Storms that kind of power seems handy. Shallan thought as she bowed once to Saph, then hurried off.
Pattern gave an amused hum in her mind.
You want to know the future, to forget the past, while existing in neither! He sounded almost giddy, You humans are so delightfully abstract!
Or we just don’t know what’s good for us.
Shallan thought back, clutching the shard of Saph’s gemstone in her freehand as she raced away after the refugees.
 
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