Kaladin glared at the interior of the fridge like he was trying to Soulcast the contents. It would have helped if he could. Then he could get something useful out of the nearly-empty containers and rotting takeout boxes.

"I swear we had more food yesterday," he told Syl, gesturing at the fridge before he slammed the door shut. "Where does it all go?"

Syl perched on his shoulder. "Welllllll…" she began, drawing out the word.

"Don't say the thing about big appetites," Kaladin said. "There's two of us. And a cat."

"You're forgetting someone," Syl huffed.

"And you," Kaladin said placatingly, "and that sword. But you two don't eat, so I don't know why this keeps happening."

"Maybe it's magic," Syl said cheerfully. Kaladin snorted.

"They call a lot of things magic here, but I don't think that's one of them. Where'd I put the keys…"

Kaladin left the kitchen to look for the other person in the house. The apartment keys were right where he'd left them, hanging on a hook by the door. Not so for his roommate, who wasn't in the living room, and definitely not in the kitchen, and the bathroom light was off so not there, which left…

He poked his head into the apartment's single bedroom. "Szeth, we're going grocery shopping."

Szeth looked up from where he sat on the floor, ignoring the existence of a perfectly good bed. "Yes, Windrunner."

"Don't call me that," Kaladin said, for what must have been the thousandth time.

"Yes, Windrunner," Szeth repeated. Stormfather, it was impossible to tell if that man was joking. "I will collect sword-nimi first."

"Fine," Kaladin nodded shortly.

Going out anywhere on this planet meant everyone had to come. Szeth only willingly went out to the library, where he needed Kaladin to reach the high shelves. Kaladin couldn't understand the local language, so he needed Szeth to translate. Syl didn't leave Kaladin, and Szeth always brought his sword with him.

The only part of their mini-squad that stayed home was the cat, and sometimes Kaladin got talked into bringing her along, too.

"...Will you make sure Fleshrender is fed?"

Though if Szeth was asking him to feed her, he doubted that was going to happen today. Small mercies.

"Yeah, okay," Kaladin said.

Yes, human food they were out of, but the cat still managed to have a whole bag of the stuff left. Her bowl was mostly empty, so Kaladin went to refill it.

Fleshrender came running with an excited "prrpt!" at the sound of a crinkling bag. She tangled herself in Kaladin's legs as he tried to scoop out some food.

"Hey. Cut that out, you're in the way. Hey—hey—storms, cat, stop—"

Syl giggled before hopping off his shoulder and zipping around Fleshrender's face. The cat's eyes went wide, and she pounced on Syl. Syl weaved around her paws and floated further away, waving at her. Fleshrender dropped into a 'hunt' pose, tail wiggling. Syl turned into a ribbon and wove in the air, prompting the cat to lunge again.

This freed up Kaladin's legs long enough for him to fill the cat bowl and put up the bag, just as Szeth walked into the living room with his sword slung across his back.

"I am ready to go," Szeth said. Fleshrender let out a little meow and trotted over to her favorite person. Szeth visibly softened.

"...That's still weird to watch," Kaladin muttered to Syl as she floated back up to his shoulder. She grinned at him.

"I think it's nice that he cares about her."

Kaladin grunted.

It wasn't like Kaladin really minded having to make trips for more food every couple of days. It was leagues better than spending hours running bridges and only getting scraps. Szeth, too, would eat whatever he was given, so the store at the end of their block suited their needs just fine. Most of the time.

The problem was that the grocery store they usually went to for food wasn't actually a "real" grocery store. It was more of...a trading post, as compared to a full market. The locals called it a convenience store.

And it was out of cereal.

'That's fine,' Kaladin told himself, 'we don't need cereal. There's plenty of other things we can stock up on.'

Right. Just grab some of those donuts or whatever, that would work fine. Be gone in a day or two, and tasted entirely too sweet, but it would work.

It would also mean he had to deal with a Shin assassin with way too much energy. Kaladin had a brief flashback to the last time that happened and removed donuts from his mental list.

So he'd get those muffins. Or those...sausage things in bread. That'd be fine. There was no need to go to another store for just cereal.

Yes. He'd just get something else for the next couple of days and bring it home.

"Windrunner," Szeth said as they both stared at the empty shelf, "perhaps we should go to the supermarket."

…Well, Kaladin hadn't been convincing himself anyways. A restock on toilet paper couldn't hurt, either. He was going to miss toilet paper when they got back to Roshar. "I guess we should," he said.

Kaladin heard Szeth mutter "Yes, sword-nimi," as they left the store. Sometimes he worried about what conversations Szeth was having with that sword. It was a sword. Syl could be a Shardblade, but Syl was first and foremost a spren, one bound by honor and oaths.

Szeth was an assassin carrying around a sentient sword. A sentient sword that made Kaladin feel sick just by looking at it. That...used to set off all sorts of alarms in Kaladin's head.

After months living together, the nagging worry had mostly faded. Once Szeth had healed from their fall from the sky (unassisted by stormlight, since they'd both used the last of it not dying), he'd had plenty of opportunities to kill Kaladin. He didn't do anything, and Kaladin couldn't spend all his time thinking 'maybe he would today.' The sword was...a different matter, but he was at least sure it wasn't going to actually hurt him.

He didn't like Szeth, but he could be grudgingly civil with him. It worked out well enough.

The cereal aisle at the much, much bigger supermarket presented the usual set of challenges. Namely, reaching the boxes and translating them.

This was accomplished by Kaladin carrying Szeth, with the Shin man either on his back or held up to a shelf. Neither of them particularly liked this arrangement, but they'd grown accustomed to it while Szeth was healing.

Right now, it was the first version. Szeth grabbed a box off the high shelf. "This one says it has fruit bits," he said, "two...I think this reads servings?"

"Oh, no," Kaladin said, "all the cereals that say they have fruit bits don't actually have fruit. They taste terrible."

"I think this one might be different." Szeth held the box in front of Kaladin's face. Judging by the the picture, it looked like there were little fruits in the cereal, but the box pictures had lied before.

Kaladin grunted, pushing it away from his face. He was half-convinced that Szeth had made a personal goal out of trying every terrible, sugar filled cereal in the supermarket. "Get it if you want, but get one of the usual things, too."

"Yes, Windrunner," Szeth said agreeably, dropping it in the basket on Kaladin's arm.

"And don't call me Windrunner."

"Yes, Windrunner."

Kaladin groaned. Two more boxes dropped into the basket with a dull rattle.

"I am getting down now," Szeth informed him, and hopped off Kaladin's back.

Kaladin stretched as he went through his mental grocery list. "Alright, we got our cereal, and we've got fresh produce," which was the other great advantage of the supermarket over the convenience store, in his mind, "and I got some of those...littlewave meal things, so...anything else? I wanted to get toilet paper, what about you?"

"Toilet paper is fine."

"No, did you want to get anything."

Szeth shrugged. "I am merely a tool, I have no need of—"

"Hey, sword, did you want anything," Kaladin deadpanned. He didn't particularly want to listen to Szeth get all...like that again. Depressing, that was the word. Or maybe 'grim.'

After a moment of silence, Szeth spoke again. "Sword-nimi would like more of the metal polish we found last time. He enjoys being clean."

"Great, let's go. Syl, what about you?" His spren would get huffy if he didn't take her into consideration after including the sword.

Since he had, she only smiled. "I don't need anything," she said airily, "but it's sweet of you to check!"

The corners of his mouth lifted a little. Syl beamed at getting a smile out of him and spun around his head before perching on his shoulder.

"...Actually," Szeth said as they started forwards, "I would...like to get Fleshrender something."

"Alright," Kaladin said, "we'll go find something for her after we get the other things."

Szeth nodded agreement.

Szeth had just dropped the metal polish in the basket when Kaladin saw a familiar face.

He froze, his brain scrambling to process it. It shouldn't be possible. There was no way he could have gotten here. Kaladin and Szeth had managed it only through the most convoluted Gravitation Surge launch imaginable, and so far as Kaladin knew, that man was no Radiant.

'As far as Kaladin knew' did leave a good bit of wiggle room, to be fair, but he was mostly certain that the man wasn't a Windrunner or Skybreaker.

Logic began to reassert itself. It wasn't the same man, of course. It was just someone who happened to bear a startling resemblance. Kaladin had seen that a few times before. One time he'd almost tackled someone he'd thought was Moash. Look, for all the facial similarities, there were plenty of differences. White hair, more lines in his face. It wasn't him.

He would have satisfied himself with that explanation if the man hadn't seen him and Szeth.

"Kaladin?"

"...Wit?"

Wit started laughing. "H-ho, bridge—pffffha!—bridgeboy!"

"Don't laugh!" Kaladin snapped, "What in Damnation are you doing here? How are you here at all?"

Wit did not stop laughing. If anything, he laughed harder, doubling over and clutching his stomach. "Think you can—hehe—think you can, can finally find a flute to return to me here? It won't—pffhaha—it won't have the same sentimental value, but I've always wanted a dinky recorder to annoy people with!"

"What does that even mean," Kaladin hissed, "Will you answer the question?"

"Ahhhh, but if I did that—" Wit giggled again. "I'd be right out of a job, wouldn't I! Being mysterious is vital to it, you know." He kept on giggling, and Kaladin decided he wasn't going to get anything useful until Wit had laughed himself out.

It took another few minutes of standing there impatiently before his laughter finally petered out. "Hooooooo…" Wit sighed, wiping a likely-fake tear from his eye, "that was good. I haven't laughed so hard in a very long while."

"How are you here," Kaladin demanded, "Do you know how to get back to Roshar?"

"Mmmmmmweeellllll…" Wit began, and bolted.

"HEY!" Kaladin shoved the shopping basket in Szeth's hands and tore after Wit. "Answer me, you piece of crem!"

"You aren't going to beat me in a cat and mouse game!" Wit called over his shoulder, skidding around the corner. Someone pushed a shopping cart in front of Kaladin, blocking his path.

He couldn't slow down. He knew how fast Wit could vanish, and Kaladin was not going to lose his first clue home.

"Syl!" Kaladin barked. She went spear-form in his hands, and Kaladin jammed her point into the floor and vaulted over the cart. The man pushing it let out a cry of shock, while a child seated in the basket went wide-eyed and clapped.

Kaladin rolled as he landed, sprinting as soon as his feet hit the floor. White hair, white hair, familiar face but white hair—there! He hadn't lost him!

"WIT!" Kaladin yelled. Wit turned around without slowing and pointed two fingers at him, thumbs cocked up upwards.

"Give you one hint!" Wit called as he and Kaladin weaved around shoppers and carts, "You'll want to find where the Perpendicularity is on this world!"

"What in Damnation is a Perpendicularity?!"

"I said one hint, bridgeboy, but fine! It's your ticket home!" Wit made a U-turn into the next aisle over. "Hoid out!"

Kaladin skidded around the corner and—

It was completely empty. Kaladin whirled around. Empty in the other direction, too.

"What the—?! Syl, any idea where he went?"

Syl shook her head. "I didn't go any faster than you did."

"Storms and Damnation!" Kaladin swore. "That could have been a way home!"

"That was part of a way home," Syl pointed out. "The Perpendicularity! It's a start, at least!"

Kaladin looked at her. "Do you know what it is?"

Syl's little face scrunched up in thought. "...Maybe? My memories are fuzzy on it, but I...I think there might have been one in Shadesmar? I don't know where it would be, if there is one…"

"Where in Shadesmar isn't important," Kaladin said, "do you know what it is?"

Syl looked doubtful. "I...guess it's a way to travel between worlds?"

Kaladin sighed and locked it into his mind. "Yeah," he said, "yeah, it could be."

When he got back to Szeth, there was a woman in uniform with an annoyed expression waiting with him.

"This woman says that we owe money for damaging the store," Szeth said. Kaladin was suddenly very, very glad that he and Szeth had kept the habit of carrying money everywhere, even after their spheres had been exchanged for paper and metal.

A half-hour later, Kaladin had gotten all the groceries put up, and could finally indulge in the luxury of lying facedown on the bed and screaming internally.

Fleshrender had decided to use his back as her bed. That was going to be annoying eventually, but Kaladin didn't plan on getting up any time soon. He was still trying to sort through the mental chaos Wit's little hint had caused, not to mention the leftover confusion from seeing Wit at all. This was not a good day for him.

"Hey, Kaladin?" Syl asked, poking him. Kaladin grunted. She took that as the 'go-ahead' he'd meant it to be. "Have you asked Szeth about the Perpendicularity?"

Kaladin turned his head to look at her. "You've been with me. You know I haven't."

"Well, yes. You should try!"

"Why would I…" Kaladin blinked in realization. "Oh. Oh, because you think he might know about it?"

"He said Shin education is very thorough," Syl said, "and he can translate a language on a totally different planet."

"...Yeah, good point." Kaladin rolled over halfway to get Fleshrender off his back. She fell off with an indignant meow as Kaladin sat up. "Hush," he told her, "go play with the thing Szeth got you."

Szeth wasn't in the living room, and definitely not in the bedroom, and the bathroom light was off so not there, but he wasn't in the kitchen either. He hadn't asked Kaladin to go out, so he was still somewhere nearby. That left the roof.

He went outside and made his way up. There was Szeth, holding his sword like a comfort object as he watched the sunset. Kaladin walked over and sat next to him.

Kaladin made two, three attempts at saying something without getting the words out before he decided to just watch the sunset for a little bit.

The skyline here was...not as grand as the view Kaladin got on Roshar, streaming through the air on stormlight. It didn't have the same breathtaking space as a bird's eye view, or even the horizon seen from Urithiru. Still, it was astounding in a different way.

The city's lights went on, flickering into existence as the sun dipped behind the towering buildings. Metal contraptions—cars—screamed across the gridded streets below. Clouds curled in the air, lit up in brilliant shades of pink and red from below, as the sky shaded from blue to purple, to pink, to red to orange to yellow. A red light blinked on top of one of the taller buildings. Somewhere in the sky, three lights attached to a flying metal machine streaked through the air.

It was utterly alien to Kaladin. Beautiful in its' own way, but always, always tinged with discomfort and homesickness.

Syl wound around his hair and pointed at Szeth. "Ask him!"

Right. He was up here for a reason. The sunset was a bonus. Kaladin glanced at the Shin man. "Hey, Szeth?"

Szeth looked over. "Yes, Windrunner?"

"Don't—why don't you ever listen when I tell you not to call me that?"

Szeth blinked at him. "It is...a sign of respect."

"You could just use my name. That would be fine."

"I don't believe I deserve that."

Kaladin eyed him. There were some pretty big issues loaded in that simple sentence. Frankly, he didn't feel like getting into all of it right now, so he decided to just let it go.

"...What do you know about Perpendicularities?"

Szeth's brow furrowed. He opened his mouth once, then closed it. He looked at his sword for a minute, and then back to Kaladin. "Sword-nimi says that it is a gateway between worlds. His...former owner took him through one, and that's how he got to Roshar."

Kaladin stared at the sheathed sword, familiar nausea tugging at his gut. "Are you telling me," he said, "that the sword is from another planet?"

"Yes. Not this one, but yes."

Kaladin mouthed a swear. "This day is not getting any better."

"...Why do you ask about this?"

Kaladin rubbed his temples. "There was a man from Roshar at the grocery store, you remember that? He said that this world's Perpendicularity could get us home. I don't know where it is, I was thinking—thought maybe you'd have some clue."

"Ah," Szeth said, and looked back out to the sunset. Moments passed in silence. "I...believe I have an idea of what to look for. I think...they are located in bodies of water. Lakes, pools." He turned to Kaladin. "If we go to the library tomorrow, I will begin to look for these."

Hope rose in Kaladin's chest. This was what he'd been looking for ever since they'd gotten stuck there, and now there was finally a chance.

"Thanks," he said, standing up. "Good plan. I'm going to head back in."

Szeth nodded. "I will return after I finish watching this," he said, gesturing at the sunset. Kaladin nodded.

"See you, then."

"Yes."

That flicker of hope beat a rhythm with Kaladin's heartbeat (a chance a chance a chance) as he returned to his apartment. A way home. A way back. A way out of here. It had been so long.

Kaladin let himself think about what could be happening back home. He'd left in the middle of a war, and he didn't know what shape things were in by now. How was Bridge Four? How was Dalinar? How were Adolin, and Shallan, and were they all okay? Could Bridge Four even Surgebind still, did they have another member they could be squires to, were they okay were they dead he couldn't protect them while he was here, were they okay were they dead had he lost them had he failed them were they okay were they—

If was only when Syl whacked the side of his face that Kaladin realized he'd started muttering aloud. "They're fine," Syl told him, "you trained them well. You've got to trust them, Kaladin."

"I do," Kaladin said, "I do. I just…"

She leaned into him. "I know."

"Yeah." Looked like he couldn't really let himself think too hard about home after all. Not without going crazy with worry.

Kaladin heard a "mrrow?" by his feet and looked down. "Hey again, cat. Your favorite person's still on the roof."

"Mrrooo." Fleshrender rubbed herself against one of his legs.

"Nuisance," Kaladin said in a tone that might be considered affectionate. Syl giggled.

"C'mon, Kaladin," she said, poking his cheek, "you should get some sleep. It'll make tomorrow come quicker."

"Who taught you that phrase?" Kaladin asked, but he went anyways. Syl shrugged and flipped her hair over her shoulder, avoiding the answer.

She was right, but Kaladin had nervous energy left over to burn first. He'd do some training with Syl in spear form, take a shower after, and then sleep. Szeth would probably be back inside by then. Kaladin would take the bed, and Szeth would sleep on the floor, an arrangement that satisfied both of them. Fleshrender would probably sleep curled in Szeth's lap. All as per usual.

Then, tomorrow, they would go to the library. They would find a way home, somehow. They would take it. They would go home.

Not yet. Oh, no, not yet, but soon, soon, soon.

Kaladin looked out the window at the fading sky and took a deep breath of hope.

It almost felt like stormlight.

Author's Notes

I have a fic that hit the six-month anniversary of its' hiatus, but I'm over here writing for a dumb au instead and things just be like that sometimes!

I can't believe I took the time to draw a cover picture for this too, but I did. There's a special surprise in it if you look closely so if you find it please leave a comment to yell at me.

Wit just crashed in halfway and caused a complete tone-shift of the story. I'm not sure how that happened, but here we are.

Anyways I hope u enjoyed my Special Angst/Humor Blend™, leave a review on your way out and please direct your attention to basket-of-radiants over on tumblr for more of whatever this is!