Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive #4) - Brandon Sanderson Page 0,392

I can only hear things near a few people that are relevant. I can see the Windrunner. I think the Edgedancer has been surrounded by ralkalest, which is why she’s invisible. Also, I can see one particular Regal.

“Any ideas on why that is?”

No. Regals weren’t often in the tower in the past, and never this variety. She can speak all languages; perhaps this is why I can see near her. Though she vanishes sometimes, so I cannot see all she does. I can also see near the crystal pillar, but with the field set up, I hear mere echoes of what is happening outside.

“Tell me those, then.”

It’s nothing relevant. Raboniel is trying her own experiments with the Light—and she hasn’t gotten as far as you have. This seems to frustrate her.

Curious. That did a little for Navani’s self-esteem. “She really wants this hybrid Light. I wonder … maybe fabrials made with a hybrid Stormlight-Voidlight would work in the tower, even if the protections were turned against her again. Maybe that is why she wants it.”

You are foolish to presume to know what one of the Fused wants. She is thousands of years old. You can’t outthink her.

“You’d better hope that I can.” Navani flipped a few pages in her notebook. “I’ve been thinking of other ways out of this. What if we found you someone to bond, to make them Radiant? We could—”

No. Never again.

“Hear me out,” Navani said. “You’ve said you’ll never bond a human again, because of the things we do to spren. But what about a singer? Could you theoretically bond one of them?”

We are talking of resisting them, and now you suggest I bond one? That seems insane.

“Maybe not,” Navani said. “There’s a Parshendi in Bridge Four. I’ve met him, and Kaladin has vouched for him. He claims that his people rejected the Fused long ago. What about him? Not a human. Not someone who has ever created a fabrial—someone who knows the rhythms of Roshar.”

The Sibling was silent, and Navani wondered if the conversation was over. “Sibling?” she asked.

I had not considered this, they said. A singer who does not serve Odium? I will need to think. It would certainly surprise Raboniel, who thinks that I am dead or sleeping.

In any case, I cannot form a bond now, with the protections up. I would need him to touch my pillar.

“What if I had him here?” Navani said. “Ready to try when the shield falls? And with some distractions in place to give you time to talk to him.”

I cannot form a bond with just anyone, the Sibling said. In the past I spent years evaluating Bondsmith squires to select one who fit me exactly. Even they eventually betrayed me, though not as badly as other humans.

“Can we really afford pickiness right now?”

It’s not pickiness. It is the nature of spren and the bond. The person must be willing to swear the correct oaths, to unite instead of divide. They must mean it, and the oaths must be accepted. It is not simply a matter of throwing the first person you find at me.

Beyond that, since I cannot create Towerlight, they will not be able to either. A bond would do nothing unless we solve the problems with my powers. It would be better if you focused on that problem instead.

“Fine,” Navani said, sensing an opening. “But I need time to research all of this. It is difficult to work while feeling I have a knife to my neck. If I knew the nodes were being defended, that would take the pressure off me. Tell me where one of them is. I have a list here of plans to protect it. I can read them off to you.”

The Sibling was silent, so Navani continued.

“We can have Kaladin start searching—loudly and obviously—on a different level, leading the enemy on a chase in the wrong direction. In the meantime, while they’re distracted, we could sneak up to the node and reinforce its defenses.

“We have some crem that hasn’t hardened yet, kept wet in the tower stores. We could seal up the node location entirely. Maybe run the crem through with some training sheaths for Shardblades, so it would be extra difficult to cut. That could earn us hours to get troops in to defend it, if it does get discovered.

“Or, if I knew where one of the nodes was, I might be able to have Kaladin begin infusing it with more Stormlight. That might counteract the Voidlight that