Usuario:Deimos

Hello! I'm a long term reader of The Coppermind, but a newb contributer. I've been wanting to start contributing for a while and finally made the plunge (in a very small way so far :))

Note - figure out how to delete subpages

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Testing Below Here!

Chapter 45: Middlefest

Characters

• Shallan Davar (Point of view)
• Lin Davar
• Malise Gevelmar
• Balat Davar
• Wikim Davar
• Jix
• Brightlord Revilar
• Eylita Tavinar
• Wit

Mentioned only

• Helaran Davar
• Jushu Davar

Plot Sumary

Three and a half years ago

Shallan and her family are attending the Middlefest Fair on her father's estates, which draws people from hamlets and villages all around. She sees a Shin merchant's show chicken, and thinks it bizarre. She follows her father to their box at the dueling arena, where they are soon approached by Brightlord Revilar. Revilar tries to force her father into an unfavorable business deal, noting his popularity with Highprince Valam and House Davar's declining status. Eventually her father bows his head and they send Shallan away.

Shallan hurries away. She is excited to see the fair unchaperoned but forces herself to do work first. After finding Eylita Tavinar, who gives her a note, she sets off to find brother Balat. While searching she thinks of her mother and her mind goes blank. Jix, one of her house's guards, eventually finds her agrees to accompany her. Balat is at the Axehound fights in the gambling pavilion, watching intensely, fixated on the animals killing each other. Shallan gives him the note, and he's surprised and excited by the meeting she's arranged. After he leaves, shallan sits on a rock, relieved to be out of the pavilion and happy she was able to help Balat, even in a small way.

When she returns to her father's box, he's in a meeting with a man she doesn't recognize. The man, dressed in black, seems startled when he sees Shallan and almost drops his glass. Malise tells her that the man claims to have brought word from her brother Helaran. When asked what news the man brought, her father commands her not to speak her brothers name and declares Helaran disinherited.

Shallan leaves and seeks out their carriage. Wikim is within, depressed and despondent. He asks whether their father sent her, or whether she came on one of her missions of mercy. He tells her that she can't fix them. Feeling like a fool, she gives him the gift of math problems she had prepared, then hastens away the carriage fighting back tears.

Sitting on a rock and trying to compose herself, the messenger in black starts talking with her. The man, unbeknownst to Shallan, is Wit. He tells her that the message that Helaran sent her father is that he "has eyes nearby, and is watching." Wit then asks her if spren talk to her, which causes her to think about "twisted symbols the eye should not see" and "her mother's soul in a box". She tells him that of course they don't and that she should be returning to her father. Wit tells Shallan that Helaran was right, her father is destroying their family, but wrong about everything else. He points out that Wikim is engrossed in the math questions that she had given him. He asks her to tell her the most beautiful thing she can imagine, and she describes a scene with her family happily living in together. As she talks, Wit pulls out some spheres and wisps of Stormlight hang in the air before between them. When she notices she draws back, and the light fades. Wit tells her that she will need to understand the nature of lies and see truth before she can expand upon it.

Notable

• Wit and Helaran have at least a passing acquaintance.
• At the meeting with Lin Davar, Wit dumps a pouch of powder into his own cup and drinks it. It's possible that this could be Allomantic metals.
• Shallan is able to vividly see what she is describing, similar to when Kaladin speaks with Wit. This is likely one of Wit's abilities.
• Wit mentions that the "Shards here are very strict," refering to the Shards on Roshar. This is one of few instances when they have been mentioned directly in the books.

Shardblades

Oathbringer: "It was long and slightly curved, a handspan wide, with wavelike serrations near the hilt. It curved at the tip like a fisherman's hook."

Adolin's Shardblade: "As long as a man is tall... long and sinuous, its single edge rippled like an eel and curved up into a point. The back bore delicate ridges, like crystal formations." When he summons his Shardblade, "The white fog appeared-manifesting as little vines sprouting in the air-before snapping into the form of a sharblade." Maybe this means his blade was once held by one of the Radiants that used the Progresion Surge?

Helaran's Shardbale: "A line of mist coalesced into silvery steel. A Blade some six feet long, curved and thick, with the side that wasnt sharp rising into a shape like burning flames or perhaps ripples of water. It had a gemstone set at the pommel, and as light reflected of the metal, the ridges seemed to move." Later described as "A Blade with the back edge ridged like flowing waves. Or perhaps tonues of fire. Etchings all along its surface. Curved, sinuous."

Shallan's blade: "it glowed softly the color of garnet along several faint lines down its length." Living blades (and plate) seem to glow with the color associated with their order of Randiants. Touching Shallan's blade doesnt cause Kaladin to hear screams (though this is when Syl isnt with him anymore.

Syl on Szeth's Honoblade: "It's something special. It was created to give abilities to men, much as our bond does." Syl+Kal on Shardblades: -Syl "they're evil." -Kal "Because they're symbols of the knights' broken oaths. But where did they come from in the first place? how were they forged?" Syl didnt answer. "Can a new one be forged? One that doesnt bear the stain of broken promises?" -Syl "Yes."