Kaladin and Teft con­tin­ue their search for Noril, a refugee who lost an arm and suf­fered severe shock. After being cared for by Kaladin’s father, Noril was sent to the ardents for reha­bil­i­ta­tion. How­ev­er, the ardents reveal they couldn’t ful­ly help him due to his men­tal state, catch­ing him attempt­ing sui­cide before trans­fer­ring him to the Devotary of Mer­cy. Kaladin reflects on the chal­lenges of triage, strug­gling with the emo­tion­al toll of pri­or­i­tiz­ing some lives over oth­ers.

The ardent assist­ing Kaladin ini­tial­ly doesn’t rec­og­nize him, only real­iz­ing his iden­ti­ty when he uses his Radi­ant abil­i­ties to lev­i­tate cush­ions. She explains that Noril’s psy­cho­log­i­cal wounds were beyond their capac­i­ty to treat, lead­ing to his trans­fer. Teft crit­i­cizes the ardents for not send­ing Noril to the Devotary soon­er, but Kaladin defends their efforts, acknowl­edg­ing his father’s role in the deci­sion. The chap­ter high­lights the lim­i­ta­tions of phys­i­cal reha­bil­i­ta­tion when deep­er trau­ma is involved.

Guid­ed by the ardent’s direc­tions, Kaladin and Teft jour­ney through the sprawl­ing, often-unex­plored cor­ri­dors of Urithiru to reach the Devotary of Mer­cy. The tower’s vast, dim­ly lit inte­ri­or evokes a sense of unease, with most inhab­i­tants pre­fer­ring the well-lit out­er rim. Kaladin notes the odd­i­ty of the monastery’s seclud­ed loca­tion, empha­siz­ing the eerie atmos­phere of the tower’s cen­tral sec­tions. The set­ting under­scores the iso­la­tion faced by those with men­tal strug­gles, mir­ror­ing Noril’s unseen suf­fer­ing.

Upon arriv­ing at the Devotary, marked by reli­gious glyphs, Kaladin and Teft pre­pare to con­front the next phase of their search. The chap­ter delves into themes of respon­si­bil­i­ty, the inter­sec­tion of phys­i­cal and men­tal health, and the chal­lenges of nav­i­gat­ing Urithiru’s impos­ing struc­ture. Kaladin’s inter­nal conflict—balancing his duties as a sur­geon with the emo­tion­al weight of indi­vid­ual cases—adds depth to his char­ac­ter, while the eerie set­ting rein­forces the novel’s atmos­pher­ic ten­sion.