“Of all the recruits in his cohort, he had learned the quickest. How to hold the spear, how to stand tospar. He’d done it almost without instruction. That had shocked Tukks. But why should it have? Youwere not shocked when a child knew how to breathe. You were not shocked when a skyeel took flightfor the first time. You should not be shocked when you hand Kaladin Stormblessed a spear and heknows how to use it.”

“Kaladin spun through the last motions of the kata, chasm forgotten, bridgemen forgotten, fatigue forgotten. For a moment, it was just him. Him and the wind. He fought with her, and she laughed.He snapped the spear back into place, holding the haft at the one-quarter position, spearhead down, bottom of the haft tucked underneath his arm, end rising back behind his head. He breathed in deeply, shivering.Oh, how I’ve missed that.He opened his eyes. Sputtering torchlight revealed a group of stunned bridgemen standing in a damp corridor of stone, the walls wet and reflecting the light. Moash dropped a handful of spheres in stunned silence, staring at Kaladin with mouth agape. Those spheres plopped into the puddle at his feet, causing it to glow, but none of the bridgemen noticed. They just stared at Kaladin, who was still in a battle stance, half crouched, trails of sweat running down the sides of his face.He blinked, realizing what he’d done. If word got back to Gaz that he was playing around with spears…Kaladin stood up straight and dropped the spear into the pile of weapons. “Sorry,” he whispered to it, though he didn’t know why. Then, louder, he said, “Back to work! I don’t want to be caught down here when night falls.”

“I froze, shocked. (And don't try to claim that you did anything different the first time a government bureaucrat pulled a gun on you.)”

“Men had always told Kaladin that he fought like nobody else. He’d felt it on the first day he’d picked up a quarterstaff, though Tukks’s advice had helped him refine and channel what he could do. Kaladin had cared when he fought. He’d never fought empty or cold. He fought to keep his men alive.”

“Oh, blessed Domi!" the Aon exclaimed, approaching quickly."Ashe!" she said, wiping her eyes with a quivering hand, numbed by shock. "You never use the Lord's name!""If He has brought me to you, then He has His first Seon convert," Ashe said, pulsing excitedly.”

“I'm Teoish," Sarene said, successfully spearing something that looked like a marinated piece of shrimp. "We're all this tall.""Father's Teoish too, Kaise," Daorn said. "And you know how tall he is.""But father's fat," Kaise pointed out. "Why aren't you fat too, Sarene?”

“Your insult has offended me. If we were at the Peaks, we would have to duel in traditional alil'tiki'i fashion.""Which is what?" Teft asked. "With spears?"Rock laughed. "No, no. We upon the Peaks are not barbarians like you down here.""How then?" Kaladin asked, genuinely curious."Well," Rock said, "is involving much mudbeer and singing."“How's that a duel?”"He who can still sing after the most drinks is winner. Plus, soon' everyone is so drunk that they forget what argument was about."Teft laughed. "Beats knives at dawn, I suppose.”