Collector of Oddities - A Stormlight Archive FanFiction

(Interlude 1-2) Calm, Quiet, and Tea

[Calm Killer]

-- 6 Months Ago | The Meeting of the 'Assassin of Three' --

Three assassins, all at one table. A strange sight.

He did not meet with the others, not often enough, at least. He took a seat across from them, sitting back against a chair and looking to the others. The Calm Killer they—the papers, passerby's, and others—called him. He summoned his Shardblade and stabbed it into the ground beside him, causing the Assassin of Tea to grimace from across the table.

"It seems you are just as composed as you normally are, Clam." Tea hissed, looking the blade over with a quick glance. Calm read her keenly, putting the nickname aside. "Huh? Clam? Can you not hear me?"

Tea sat forward, her eyebrow twitching. A bead of sweat started on her forehead. She sat uncomfortably and toyed with her fingernails with her other gloved hand. A glance up every so often, gazing at her own reflection on the Shardblade.

Calm tilted his head and scoffed. "Clam? And are you scared of the Blade?" He wove his hand to his side and the Shardblade dispersed into mist.

"N-no! Why would I be scared of that- that- that toy of yours!" Tea slapped her hands down onto the table.

"Stop." Quiet threw their hands into the air. "Quiet down, you'll wake the cremlings." She always spoke in a whisper, as her nickname suggested, and hated when the others got too loud.

Both Tea and Calm turned quickly to look to her—even hearing her speak up was unlike her.

"You have something you mean to bring up, then?" Calm pressed.

"There is another that we must be worried about. Another among our ranks." Quiet—or the Silencer of Gavl—whispered across the table to her companions.

Tea—or the Assassin of Tea—beamed with confusion and joy. "Another? Is there a fourth in the Assassin of Three?"

Quiet shook her head, looked between them again, then whispered. "Word is circulating that the Collector is back and with him ... Nalan. The Skybreaker Herald of Justice has taken on new apprentices and seeks to wipe out the new surge of Surgebinders."

Calm laughed, putting a hand to his slight gut. "You mean to say that fairytale Elox is back? You are so gullible, that man- that myth- died off years ago! Saw it me'self!"

The air went dull. A nearby torch affixed to the wall went out with a cool gust of wind. Wind? They were sitting in an enclosed chamber with no windows.

Calm slowly eased out of his chair with a grunt, instinctually reaching for a sword at his side that wasn't there. Storms... he had forgotten.

"What is it, Calm?" Tea, nervously, arose as well. Only Quiet remained sitting, though she did produce a dagger to her side.

"I'm not sure—" The rather heavy man said, looking to the steaming torch. "Who else knows of this location, Quiet?"

A glowing Blade lodged itself between the stone wall and the hinges of the room's only exit. Slowly, like a surgeon and scalpel, the Blade slid down each hinge. Like a hot knife through butter, the metal melted away, and the door fell to the ground.

"Almighty above—" Calm muttered, not taking another second before counting his breaths. Numbering his heartbeats.

Ten, to be exact.

The Shadow in the doorway loomed far over the height of the other three in the chamber. It swished its Shardblade around in front of them, then took a heavy step into the room. In the faint light of the other torch, the Assassins of Three could make out golden hair and skin—the elegant form of the Iriali people.

When Calm's heart had finally reached the tenth beat, his own Shardblade appeared in his hands. He held it skillfully before himself, defending his two companions standing just behind him. "What is it you want! I imagine you are the fourth Quiet spoke of?!"

The Iri nodded and continued to proceed into the room. His Shardblade fizzled into smoke as he walked. By the wall, he pulled forth another chair and brought it up to the table for himself. "My name is Ui, Justicesworn. I mean no harm and do not come on tidings of anger. I was hoping we could strike up a deal, as I have Justice to deliver and you Three share crucial information I need."

Calm dismissed his own Blade, earning a sigh of relief from Tea. He looked to her, then to Quiet—who still seemed rather calm even after the Iri stormed through the room. A secret room. A very secret room. Quiet was being calmer than Calm was himself.

"Tea, Calm. Sit." She said, turning her attention to Ui.

-

-

They spoke for some time, even having to replace the torches on the walls for ones of fresh oil.

"Herald of Justice Nalan believes he is alive, you say? Storms and chulls, that's bad news for everyone. We can't let him ruin more plans... Dalinar Kholin must die this time, no matter how many Brightlords we must kill to get his attention." Calm snarled, gritting his teeth slightly.

"I am surprised by each of your- eagerness to continue down this path." Ui began again. He had a dry, horrifying way of talking. By leaving gaps in his sentences he made everything sound like it might be the last sentence they would ever hear. "But there are issues, as you have said. This Elox fellow, this Collector of "Oddities" or what-have-you..."

Quiet chimed in. "He'll be an arrow in our sides—one no surgeon could remove or heal."

"Exactly..." Tea hummed, tapping her fingers on the table. "Perhaps we can use the same plan? To lead Elox out, that is. The stories say he responds quickly when things go wrong in a smaller town or village."

"So, like Dalinar," Calm continued, finishing off exactly where Tea ended, "We sow the seeds of chaos amongst Alethkar and smoke the wasp out without letting him know what he's headed into."

Quiet concluded; "And when he's found himself led straight into a trap, we three will strike."

"And I, finally, will know Peace just as he will know Justice."