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| “ | Death upon the lips. Sound upon the air. Char upon the skin. | ” |
Point of view: Kaladin
Setting: Sadeas's warcamp
Kaladin awakes from his injuries confused by why he's alive following the highstorm. He then comes outside to find the bridgecrew training in his absence. On seeing him awake, the crew is overjoyed and come to Kaladin to celebrate his survival. Teft keeps his distance though, being the only one who knows how he has survived.
Kaladin wrestles with what happened in the storm and if he'd seen the Stormfather himself. He is shocked to find he was only unconscious for ten days given the severity of his injuries.
The bridgecrew is then called out for a run, and while Kaladin goes to help carry the bridge, he is encouraged to take it easy and run water out with them instead, which he does.
The scene then changes to Kaladin watching the unfolding battle, which appears to be close between the Parshendi and Sadeas's men. Kaladin converses with Rock and Sigzil over why the Parshendi fight. Throughout their conversation of the battle, Kaladin comes to realise that the bridgecrews are intentionally left exposed so that the Parshendi attack them and not the expensively trained troups.
Following the battle, the crew is sitting around the campfire waiting for Rock to cook the stew. Kaladin is deep in thought considering the futility of trying to save the lives of the members of the bridgecrews when their purpose is to die. He is on the edge of going back to his old despondent self. A conversation with Sigzil reveals that he thinks Kaladin is doing a good thing, but giving the men a false hope, which nonetheless makes their last days fun.