“I will suggest to the king that he accept your advice, the Lopen,” Talik said, then extended his hand. “I appreciate your sincerity. It is not what I expected to find in this city.”
Lopen took the hand.
“Before you take me down,” Talik said, “I have a . . . somewhat delicate question for you. Our king, who is one of my parents, has undergone some unusual physical changes lately. They have transformed him in dramatic ways, and at first we thought it was a gift of our god, as he was not born looking as he does now. We now realize this transformation is in relation to a spren he has been seeing. It is why he agreed to make this long trip.”
“Your king is Radiant!” Lopen said. “What kind?”
“He can make the very air seem to catch flame,” Talik said. “And sees a spren that burns through the inside of objects in curious treelike patterns.”
“Dustbringer,” Lopen said. “We’ve been hoping to find some more. Look, this is great. But don’t talk to the ones we already have, all right? It’s complicated, but we’d love to see you figure your own way, without anyone interfering.”
“I do not understand.”
“I don’t really either,” Lopen said. “Have your king talk to Dalinar about it, all right? But don’t tell anyone else. It’s politics. The annoying kind.”
“There’s another kind?”
Lopen grinned. “I like you, velo.” He grabbed Talik by the arm and flew him to the floor—where a number of his friends were arguing loudly with some of Dalinar’s soldiers. They were all surrounded by pools of angerspren and gesturing at the sky. Poor guys. Probably sad they didn’t get to fly too.
Kaladin had arrived, so Lopen towed Talik over and presented him. “This is my cousin Talik,” Lopen said, pointing. “He’s, sure, the king’s son. Treat him well, gancho.”
“I’ll try,” Kaladin said, his voice dry. “I hope Lopen’s tour of the tower was informative.”
“Tour . . . ?” Talik said, glancing at Lopen, who made some low-key shushing gestures. Wasn’t Lopen’s fault he’d spent too long at lunch and hadn’t managed to greet the Reshi when they arrived. He blamed Cord’s cooking. “Yes . . .” Talik continued. “It was informative.”
“Excellent,” Kaladin said. “I have scheduled a meeting for your king with Dalinar and Navani Kholin, rulers of this tower. Though perhaps we should first deal with whatever is happening over there. . . .” He pointed at the Reshi king’s arguing soldiers. Talik rushed over to calm them, though Kaladin lingered with Lopen.
“Where is Huio?” Kaladin asked.
“He was busy. So I went on my own.”
Kaladin gave him a long-suffering look. Huio and Lopen had persuaded him that the Reshi would respond best to Herdazians meeting them, and that was true. So why was he having a problem?
“I had counted,” Kaladin said, “on Huio reining you in a little, Lopen. You didn’t do anything stupid, did you? You did ask before you flew him up high, right?”
“Um . . .”
“Lopen,” Kaladin said softly. “You need to start thinking more about what you do and say. Please. Be more careful.”
“I will,” Lopen promised quickly. “Look, everything turned out all right, gancho! That Talik fellow, he’s a good one. Take care of him. These Reshi have a secret you’ll find interesting, and they might tell you, if you’re nice.”
“What? Why don’t you tell me?”
“Can’t, gancho,” Lopen said. “They told me in confidence.”
“Lopen,” Kaladin said with another of his long-suffering captain-of-the-world sighs. “You were sent specifically to do reconnaissance on this group.”
“Sure, and I did. But I can’t betray their secrets. They’re my cousins, gon.”
“They’re not your cousins.”
“Herdaz is next to Reshi. So we’re cousins.”
“Alethkar is next to Herdaz too,” Kaladin said. “So I’m as much your cousin as those people are.”
Lopen tapped him on the shoulder and winked. “You’re finally figuring it out, gancho. Good job.”
“Well, I suppose that’s beside the point. I want to ask you something. The queen needs me to send some Windrunners on a mission to—”
“Oh!” Lopen said. “Pick me. I wanna do it.”
“You don’t even know what the mission is, Lopen.”
“Still volunteering,” Lopen said. “Sounds special.”
“We’re sending another mission to Akinah.”
“The place where Leyten got dropped into the ocean?” Lyn and Sigzil had barely managed to rescue him after something sucked away his Stormlight.
“Same,” Kaladin said. “We don’t have a lot of resources to spare at the moment, but Navani is convinced something important is hiding on that island. So we’re sending a scouting mission via ship. I suggested we send Windrunners who could swim, just in case. That means you and Huio.”
“Pick me!”
“I literally just did.”
“I know. That was for old time’s sake.”
“Navani’s sending a scribe,” Kaladin continued, “and you should listen to her advice. Also, I was thinking it might be good to send Rock. He’s one of the only other members of Bridge Four who can swim, and Leyten’s report included seeing strange spren in the clouds. They might be involved with whatever is leeching Stormlight. It would be nice to have him along to see Voidspren, if they try to remain hidden.”
“Rock won’t go,” Lopen said. “Next week’s his anniversary with his wife. We can take Cord. She can see spren too, and she wants to see more of the world. Besides, Rua likes her.”
Kaladin glanced toward the honorspren, who was bouncing along the ground in the shape of a full-sized axehound. “Lopen. I’m worried about this mission. Something about it doesn’t feel right. I’d go myself, but . . .”
Lopen understood. Kaladin already had to divide his time between the battlefronts in southern Alethkar and Azir. Plus he had to organize patrols to watch the coalition fleets from above, and see to training here in the tower. The numbers of Windrunners were swelling, now that so many of the original crew were picking up their own squires.
It was a lot for one man to track. They were long past the point where Kaladin could go with every team to watch them personally. It seemed to be tearing him apart inside to let go.
“Hey, gancho,” Lopen said, his hand on Kaladin’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure everyone comes back, all right? Don’t you worry.”
“Make sure you come back too,” Kaladin said. “Go talk to Huio and Cord and see if they’re willing. Then report to Rushu, the ardent you’ll be accompanying. She has information on some secret details of your mission that I don’t want to discuss in public. After that, have your team travel to Thaylen City via Oathgate and report to the docks tomorrow morning. And be careful.”
“Gancho, I’m always careful.”
“Are you?”
“Of course,” he said, pointing at himself. “What? You think this happens by accident?” He grinned, waved Rua over, then went to taunt Huio about being sent on a special mission—before relenting and telling him that he got to go too.