The ten-year-old Kal (as he still prefers to be called) comes late to the surgery of the young woman Sani, whose hand is badly mangled. He has a short discussion with his father, Lirin, about the Knights Radiant before they start working. Kal notices that Sani's third finger will have to be amputated. After the surgery, Lirin notes that Kal still has to work on his nerves. He then wants to know where Kal was. Kal tells him that he and Tien went to see what Jam had learned from his father in working with the quarterstaff. This soon turns into an argument about Kal wanting to become a soldier. Kal then wants to know who tells stories about surgeons and his father answers that the families of the saved do so. Lirin sighs, asks his son some questions about sicknesses and remedies, then tells him that he should go to Kharbranth to learn surgery there.
