| << TWoK Chapter 38: Envisager / TWoK Chapter 40: Eyes of Red and Blue >> |
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| “ | Within a heartbeat, Alwzarv was there, crossing a distance more than four months to travel by foot. | ” |
Point of view: Shallan
Setting: The Conclave
Shallan sits in her room in the Conclave drawing "Jasnah's annihalation of the thieves." She is still rather shaken by the events. Lately, her days are spent consulting philosophy books and she has decided that their ethical frameworks exonerate Jasnah. The philosophy books also force her to contemplate the merits of her theft of Jasnah's fabrial. Jasnah does not seem to have noticed the theft and it makes Shallan rather nervous. As she thinks of the weapon she kept concealed that night, she unconsciously starts drawing a fancy dining room with a well-dressed corpse lying in a pool of blood. She startles, crumples the paper, and sits on the bed in a cold sweat.
Later, Shallan is talking to her brother, Balat, over the spanreed. She tells him that she has the soulcaster. Balat is overjoyed but disappointed that she is still with Jasnah. She convinces him that staying with Jasnah is the more prudent course of action because a) she's less of a suspect; and b) she will have time to learn how to use the thing. Balat praises her intellectual growth but reminds her that the family is running out of time to fix their financial situation and their father's associates are breathing down their necks.
When the maid enters, Shallan retrieves the fabrial from her trunk and the gift of jam and bread from Kabsal. She goes to the garden to sketch, think, and breathe. She tries to soulcast with the fabrial but fails. She contemplates her next steps: search the Palanaeum; ask Kabsal; trade to the Veden King or the Ardents for protection?