Page 85 of The Well of Ascension
“I don’t really have time for city business right now,” Elend said. “The prime reason I set up the Assembly was so that they could deal with these kinds of issues. Go ahead and send them a message, telling them that I trust their judgment. Apologize for me, and explain that I’m seeing to the city’s defense. I’ll try and make the Assembly meeting next week.”
Dockson nodded, scribbling a note to himself. “Though,” he noted, “that is something else to consider. By meeting with Straff, you’ll give up your hold on the Assembly.”
“This isn’t an official parlay,” Elend said. “Just an informal meeting. My resolution from before will still stand.”
“In all honesty, Your Majesty,” Dockson said, “I highly doubt thattheywill see it that way. You know how angry they are to be left without recourse until you decide to hold the parlay.”
“I know,” Elend said. “But the risk is worthwhile. Weneedto meet with Straff. Once that is done, I can return with—hopefully—good news for the Assembly. At that point, I can argue that the resolution hasn’t been fulfilled. For now, the meeting goes forward.”
More decisive indeed,Vin thought.He’s changing….
She had to stop thinking about things like that. Instead, she focused on something else. The conversation turned to specific ways that Elend could manipulate Straff, each of the crewmembers giving him tips on how to scam effectively. Vin, however, found herself watching them, looking for discrepancies in their personalities, trying to decide if any of them might be the kandra spy.
Was Clubs being even quieter than normal? Was Spook’s shift in language patterns due to growing maturity, or because the kandra had difficulty mimicking his slang? Was Ham, perhaps, too jovial? He also seemed to focus less on his little philosophical puzzles than he once had. Was that because he was more serious now, or because the kandra didn’t know how to imitate him properly?
It was no good. If she thought too much, she could spot seeming discrepancies in anyone. Yet, at the same time, they all seemed like themselves. People were just too complex to reduce to simple personality traits. Plus, the kandra would be good—very good. He would have a lifetime of training in the art of imitating others, and he had probably been planning his insertion for a long time.
It came down to Allomancy, then. With all of the activities surrounding the siege and her studies about the Deepness, however, she hadn’t had a chance to test her friends. As she thought about it, she admitted that the lack of time excuse was a weak one. The truth was that she was probably distracting herself because the thought of one of the crew—one of her first group of friends—being a traitor was just too upsetting.
She had to get over that. If there really were a spy in the group, that would be the end of them. If the enemy kings found out about the tricks Elend was planning…
This in mind, she tentatively burned bronze. Immediately, she sensed an Allomantic pulse from Breeze—dear, incorrigible Breeze. He was so good at Allomancy that even Vin couldn’t detect his touch most of the time, but he was also compulsive about using his power.
He wasn’t currently using it on her, however. She closed her eyes, focusing. Once, long ago, Marsh had tried to train her in the fine art of using bronze to read Allomantic pulses. She hadn’t realized at the time just how large a task he’d begun.
When an Allomancer burned a metal, they gave off an invisible, drumlike beat that only another Allomancer burning bronze could sense. The rhythm of these pulses—how quickly the beats came, the way they “sounded”—told exactly what metal was being burned.
It took practice, and was difficult, but Vin was getting better at reading the pulses. She focused. Breeze was burning brass—the internal, mental Pushing metal. And…
Vin focused harder. She could feel a pattern washing over her, a doubledum-dumbeat with each pulse. They felt oriented to her right. The pulses were washing against something else, something that was sucking them in.
Elend. Breeze was focused on Elend. Not surprising, considering the current discussion. Breeze was always Pushing on the people he interacted with.
Satisfied, Vin sat back. But then she paused.Marsh implied there was much more to bronze than many people thought. I wonder….
She squeezed her eyes shut—ignoring the fact that any of the others who saw her would think her actions strange—and focused again on the Allomantic pulses. She flared the bronze, concentrating so hard she felt she’d give herself a headache. There was a…vibration to the pulses. But what that could mean, she wasn’t certain.
Focus!she told herself. However, the pulses stubbornly refused to yield any further information.
Fine,she thought.I’ll cheat.She turned off her tin—she almost always had it on a little bit—then reached inside and burned the fourteenth metal. Duralumin.
The Allomantic pulses became so loud…so powerful…she swore she could feel their vibrations shaking her apart. They pounded like beats from a massive drum set right beside her. But she got something from them.
Anxiety, nervousness, worry, insecurity, anxiety, nervousness, worry—
It was gone, her bronze expended in one massive flare of power. Vin opened her eyes; no one in the room was looking at her except OreSeur.
She felt drained. The headache she’d predicted before now came in full force, thudding inside her head like the tiny brother of the drum she’d now banished. However, she held to the information she’d gleaned. It hadn’t come in words, but feelings—and her first fear was that Breeze was making these emotions appear. Anxiety, nervousness, worry. However, she immediately realized that Breeze was a Soother. If he focused on emotions, it would be the ones he wasdampening. The ones he was using his powers to Soothe away.
She looked from him to Elend.Why…he’s making Elend more confident!If Elend stood a little taller, it was because Breeze was quietly helping, Soothing away anxiety and worry. And Breeze did this even as he argued and made his usual mocking comments.
Vin studied the plump man, ignoring her headache, feeling a newfound sense of admiration. She’d always wondered just a little at Breeze’s placement in the crew. The other men were all, to an extent, idealists. Even Clubs, beneath his crotchety exterior, had always struck her as a solidly good man.
Breeze was different. Manipulative, a little selfish—he seemed like he’d joined the crew for the challenge, not because he really wanted to help the skaa. But, Kelsier had always claimed that he’d chosen his crew carefully, picking the men for their integrity, not just their skill.
Perhaps Breeze wasn’t an exception after all. Vin watched him pointing his cane at Ham as he said something flippant. And yet, on the inside, he was completely different.
You’re a good man, Breeze,she thought, smiling to herself.You just try your best to hide it.
