The novel flashes back eight years.

While Venli conducts her research into listener history and abilities, she meets and starts collaborating with a voidspren named Ulim. Ulim tells Venli about the Unmade (Roshar’s powerful voidspren) working for Odium: Long ago, one of the Unmade had trapped ancient listeners into slavery as parshmen. Wishing to keep her people free from further enslavement, Venli agrees to convince Gavilar to invite listeners to the Alethi capital, hoping the great city will intimidate her people into taking on forms of power.

In the present, Venli brings Rlain to the infirmary. Rlain reveals that he stole maps of Urithiru out of Navani’s vault. He hopes they might help Kaladin, but Venli realizes that they might also help her people sneak away. As news of Kaladin’s successful fights against the Fused spreads, other skirmishes break out between humans and singers. Resisters now paint glyphs on their heads in honor of Kaladin. Lirin disparages them, claiming they will cause more death, but Venli argues that the glyphs provide hope.

While Adolin is imprisoned in the spren city Lasting Integrity, Shallan tries to find Restares—the man she’s been commissioned to seek out by the Ghostbloods.