the shape of the head, but glowing.
“Didn’t expect you to be different here,” Adolin said to the horse.
Gallant blew out again. His version of a shrug. Then he nibbled at Adolin’s coat pocket.
Adolin chuckled and dug out the other fruit he’d hidden there—wrapped in a handkerchief, naturally. Wouldn’t do to stain his coat. He gave it to the horse with a pat on the neck. “Well, at least you won’t need to haul that Plate around.”
It made Adolin feel exposed. No Blade, no Plate, and the Radiants would be limited—for while they brought plenty of infused gemstones, they couldn’t renew them.
He called for the group to begin carefully making its way down the ramp. With the railing, it wasn’t too dangerous—but the walk was a long one. Urithiru was high in the mountains, and they needed to hike down to sea level. Strangely, Shallan told him they’d done measurements, and the path wasn’t nearly as long as it would be in the Physical Realm. Space wasn’t a one-to-one correlation in Shadesmar. Things seemed more compressed here, specifically in the vertical dimension. Isasik the mapmaker thought the place was incredible for reasons Adolin hadn’t been able to grasp, despite having it explained to him three times.
At any rate, the hike would take several hours. They started out, and Shallan joined him, watching Maya walk with Gallant ahead.
Adolin put his arm around his wife. “Do you think she was happy to see me? I hope she enjoys being around us. It has to be better than simply walking around on this side, haunting wherever I happen to be going.”
“I’m sure she’s happy,” Shallan said.
“You don’t … think I’m crazy, do you? To treat her as I do?”
“I find it endearing,” Shallan said.
“Even if you tease me about it?”
“That’s how you know.” She smiled and stopped him, then went up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “I like the outfit too. You chose well.”
“Thanks, I…” Adolin trailed off as someone else put their arm around him, then around Shallan. Adolin twisted his head to find Pattern standing behind them, giving both of them a hug. His clothing was stiff, like it was made out of glass, and his collar pressed uncomfortably against Adolin’s ear.
“Mmm…” Pattern said. “I like having arms. If Maya does not speak, and you want to hear someone speak, I am very good at talking. I can say words about many kinds of things.”
“Um, thanks?” Adolin said.
“You are welcome. Should we not walk? On our feet? The ones I now have again? I do like my feet. They are befittingly perambulatory.” He held up his leg, and showed bare feet beneath his robe. Curious. Adolin had always assumed they didn’t have feet. Pattern moved off, humming delightedly to himself.
* * *
An hour later, Adolin could still see Urithiru shimmering above. A bonfire of colors and light, though oddly it didn’t cast shadows. Many sources of light in Shadesmar didn’t. And those that did sometimes cast them in the wrong direction.
They ate field rations, continuing steadily downward in a spiral around the enormous pillar. Eventually he was able to pick out the ocean below. In Shadesmar, land and sea were reversed—so here, the continent was manifest as a vast ocean of beads. They’d find ground where rivers ran after highstorms or at the edges of the continent, where the oceans began in the real world.
All things in Roshar manifested in Shadesmar. Most objects became beads, while living people and animals became little flames of light like the ones he’d seen above. They passed some of those as they walked, hovering off in the distance. Adolin assumed those were the guards who watched over the complex of tunnels and caverns beneath Urithiru. Indeed, there were more lights than he’d expected; Aunt Navani must have gotten her wish to have the caverns better guarded.
Eventually those vanished above, and he was left with only the endless view of the ocean. It bent his mind to think about those beads. The souls of all the objects that made up the physical world. Churning and mixing together, forming waves and surging tides, each composed of small beads no wider than his index finger.
He passed the time trying to get to know the members of his team. Zu liked to run off ahead, her spren often advising caution—and as often ignored. Zu had worked as a guide in the Reshi Isles for years, after fleeing there to find a place where people wouldn’t, as she put it,