The Way of Kings: Chapter 64

Dalinar and Navani are strolling around Elhokar's palace with both their attendants in tow. No one knows that Dalinar and Navani are basically courting one another, but people have started to talk about all the time they seem to be spending together. Neither seems overly concerned that people are talking about them.
They discuss their history. Navani thought that Dalinar hated her ever since she and Gavilar were courting. He tells her he never hated her, just that he knew he couldn’t be with her and so he couldn’t stand to be around her much. Apparently, Dalinar always got out of the way so Gavilar could succeed. He vowed to himself that he would never sit on the throne after briefly contemplating killing Gavilar in the heat of a moment.
Navani brings up Dalinar’s wife and when she speaks her name all Dalinar hears is a sound of soft blowing air (i.e., Shshshsh); he has no direct memories of her, not even her name. Navani had tried to hate her since she was with Dalinar, but she was too nice. Apparently, Brightness Kholin wasn’t considered a great mind, but was well loved by many and, at the time, fit Dalinar’s personality well.
Dalinar still seems guilty about his burgeoning relationship with Navani. She knows it’s too much for her to ask him to release himself from that guilt, but asks him to 'bend' a little for both their sakes. Dalinar is reluctant and tells her that living by the Codes since Gavilar had made him a different man, and he doesn’t want to be who he once was. He says he’ll find a way, but to leave it to him instead of worrying herself about it. Navani remarks that nothing in the Codes forbids them from being with one another. Dalinar worries more about how her son Elhokar will take the news. Navani doesn’t believe Elhokar will notice given his distractions with the Parshendi and the shadowy people the King believes are trying to kill him. Dalinar, however, worries Elhokar might see some conspiracy behind their relationship.
Horns sound signaling a chasmfiend has been seen on the infamous Tower plateau. Sadeas had been hoping for a run against the Parshendi there. It would mean much to the other Highprinces if they were to win as no Alethi group had ever won against the Parshendi on the Tower. Navani tells Dalinar that he was right about working with Sadeas.
He seems elated at the "we" part of the statement; whatever they are into now they are in it together.
Kaladin hears the horns; a call to the Tower, where he and Bridge Four had wreaked havoc to Sadeas's battle plans, causing the death of many and the reason Kaladin was strung up during a highstorm.
Kaladin’s men, all thirty-five including himself, gather in their orange carapace armor along with shields adorned with Parshendi bones in spiral shapes. Over the last ten days Bridge Four went on six bridge runs with the new equipment and perfected their techniques, but this is the first time all of the men have the armor. None had died from the team during this time. As they pick up the bridge to begin their march across the Plains, the other bridge crews cheer them loudly.
His father is not going mad. As Adolin gets suited-up with his Shardplate, he is truly happy. When ready, he takes the reins of his Ryshadium and leads him to Dalinar who is conferring with some of his men. They are soon met by Sadeas, who should have been leading his own men to the Tower.
Sadeas tells Dalinar they have to talk; an assault on the Tower is just the chance they were looking for to decimate the forces of the Parshendi. The Parshendi have been known to field up to 10,000 warriors on the Plateau given it is so large. He asks Dalinar to field as many troops as he can. Dalinar says he can commit 8,000 along with Sadeas’s 7,000 that would be a force that could fracture the Parshendi in two so they can destroy all that show their faces today.
Dalinar said he still won’t cross the chasms with Sadeas’s bridges at the same time - even with some bridgemen wearing armor, he couldn’t accept the loss of life on his conscience. Sadeas agrees to create a foothold for them to cross unmolested per their normal agreement.
-by Michael Pye
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