Words of Radiance: Chapter 52

Progression of the Chapter:
Kaladin wanders the edge between the chasms and the warcamps, musing, then steps into the chasm; Shallan, disguised first as a messenger boy and then as a maid, infiltrates Amaram's manor; Kaladin attempts to alternate between running on the floor and running on the wall, but realizes he needs to work on the basics first; Shallan finesses a couple of close encounters and makes it to Amaram’s secret room, which turns out to contain maps; Kaladin discovers that his body fears falling even when his mind knows it’s safe; Shallan can’t take time to make sense out of the maps and glyph-writing, so she takes Memories of everything, then begins to draw frantically; Kaladin continues cautiously until he accidentally avoids a puddle with a reflexive Lashing, and sees how to change his perceptions; Shallan exits the house disguised first as Amaram, then as the messenger boy, and in giving Amaram the message which was her first alibi, she discovers that the Blade he bears is the one which had belonged to her brother, Helaran; Kaladin improves dramatically and finally throws himself at the sky, surrounded by windspren; Shallan confirms that the man from whom Amaram obtained his Shards was indeed her brother, who is now certainly dead; as Kaladin returns to earth, he is dissuaded by Syl from going after Amaram right away, but on arriving in his room, he finds Shen waiting to say goodbye.
Quote of the Chapter:
Commentary:
Kaladin is just beginning to seriously practice his Windrunning, and this night is one of intentional training to confront Szeth when he returns. Shallan has obviously been practicing her Lightweaving, and can now prepare multiple disguises ahead of time, switching between them as needed; her goal, for tonight, is to infiltrate Amaram’s manor on behalf of the Ghostbloods - the mission that was assigned her in Chapter 43.
Kaladin works and works on the basics, until he finally does something different by instinct - and suddenly, it all comes clear, and the Lashings become natural. The breakthrough comes when he instinctively avoids falling in a puddle again. There’s a glorious sense of thrill and triumph, as he finally, really becomes a Windrunner. There’s a feeling that everything is going to come right, now, and that he and Syl are going to get this figured out. There’s such a joy in his new skill ... and then it descends into anger and self-justification as he returns to earth, with his bitterness toward Amaram and shielding Moash. It turns foreboding, too, as Shen prepares to depart, gives Kaladin his real name of Rlain, and is clearly apprehensive about where he’s going.
Shallan, meanwhile, has her own series of successes, through much greater danger; her sequence of disguise and misdirection achieves the immediate goal of obtaining access to Amaram’s secret room, which is a triumph in itself, but she has to work very quickly to get everything in Memory, and then pull off another masquerade to cover her tracks and keep anyone from getting suspicious. There’s a feeling of elation, as she manipulates the cook into not mentioning her presence to Amaram and exits the manor. There’s a feeling of relief as she slips back into the messenger disguise and is in the right place for Amaram to find her. There’s a nice little resolution as she delivers her message about “her mistress” wanting to document Amaram’s Shards… and then it descends into horror and grief as she discovers that his Blade is the one once held by her beloved brother Helaran. Amaram’s blithe description of the “assassin” and his own “counterattack” which killed the young man is all too sickeningly vivid, and all her accomplishments of the night are buried in the sorrow of knowing that her brother is truly dead.
Parallel stories, and tied together at the end by Amaram’s role in each of their sufferings.
Stormwatch:
This is the same day as the previous chapter. Thirty-one days remain in the countdown.
Sprenspotting:
Windspren!
Ars Arcanum:
Shallan couldn’t take the time to actually study the maps and the glyphs, so she took Memories of them. Once finished with that, she slapped a piece of paper on the desk and drew frantically - but she’d just thought that she’d do all the drawing when she was safely back in her rooms. Why was she drawing?
She hadn’t planned to disguise herself as Amaram, so she needed to draw him in order to make sure the cook didn’t bring up any of this again, especially to Telesh.
Shallan's been practicing her skills: multiple disguises which she can switch off, combined with a few physical props that simply make it easier; working with Pattern to provide different voices when necessary; and of course Pattern’s ability to unlock things.
About Kaladin’s practice, he hopped onto and off the wall a couple hundred times. And, he fell out of a puddle.
Heraldic Symbolism:
Kaladin and Shallan are each actively practicing their Radiant skills, and so the Heralds associated with their Orders naturally watch over the chapter: Jezrien, for the Windrunner, and Shalash, for the Lightweaver.
Words of Radiants:
This is the only mention of the Truthwatchers in the Epigraphs. When read, it provides no real description of just what Truthwatchers do. It seems, they didn’t tell anyone what they did. Did they, as an Order, pool their information, decide what needed to be done about it, and tell the other Orders whatever they felt was necessary? Indeed ...
- Paraphrased from Alice Arneson