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"So," Marsh said, "just burning those storages would er than when he started?"

"He would have had to place that excess youth inside of another Feruchee, I think," Sazed explained "You see, Alloenerally come in bursts and flares The Lord Ruler wouldn’t have wanted all of that youth at once, so he’d have stored it inside of a piece of "

"The bracelets?"

"Yes, Master Marsh However, Feruche returns--it takes th, for instance, to ularIn the Lord Ruler’s case, this ing When Mistress Vin stole the bracelets, he aged incredibly quickly because his body was trying to stretch back to where it should have been"

Vin sat in the cool evening wind, staring out toward Keep Venture It was bright with light; not even a single day had passed, and Elend was alreadya code of laws for his new nation

Vin sat quietly, fingering her earring She’d found it in the throne rooan to heal She wasn’t certain why she kept it Perhaps because it was a link to Reen, and the mother who had tried to kill her Or, perhaps, sis she shouldn’t have been able to do

There was much to learn, still, about Allomancy For a thousand years, the nobility had simply trusted what the Inquisitors and Lord Ruler told them What secrets had they shadohat metals had they hidden?

"The Lord Ruler," she finally said "He…just used a trick to be iht? He was just lucky Anyone as both a Feruchemist and an Allomancer could have done what he did"

"It appears that way, Mistress," Sazed said "Perhaps that hy he feared Keepers so much He hunted and killed Feruchemists, for he knew that the skill was hereditary--just as Allomancy is If the Terris lines ever mixed with those of the imperial nobility, the result could very well have been a child who could challenge hirams," Marsh said

Sazed nodded "He needed to make absolutely sure that the Terrisular populace, lest they pass on latent Feruchemical abilities"

Marsh shook his head "His own people He did such horrible things to them just to keep hold of his power"

"But," Vin said, frowning, "if the Lord Ruler’s powers came from a mixture of Feruchemy and Allomancy, what happened at the Well of Ascension? What was the power that the book--whoever he as supposed to find?"

"I don’t know, Mistress," Sazed said quietly

"Your explanation doesn’t answer everything," Vin said, shaking her head She hadn’t spoken of her own strange abilities, but she had spoken of what the Lord Ruler had done in the throne room "He was so powerful, Sazed I could feel his Allomancy He was able to Push on metals insidethe storages, but how did he get so strong at Allohed "I fear that the only person who could have answered these questions died this "

Vin paused The Lord Ruler had held secrets about the Terris religion that Sazed’s people had been searching for centuries to find "I’m sorry Maybe I shouldn’t have killed hi would have killed hiht This way, I can record that the Lord Ruler was struck down by one of the skaa he had oppressed"

Vin flushed "Record?"

"Of course I as on--history, events, and truths"

"You won’tsay too much about me, will you?" For so stories about her made her uncomfortable

"I wouldn’t worry too much, Mistress," Sazed said with a smile "My brethren and I will be very busy, I think We have so much to restore, so much to tell the world…I doubt details about you need to be passed on with any urgent ti I will record what happened, but I will keep it to myself for a while, if you wish"

"Thank you," Vin said, nodding

"That power that the Lord Ruler found in the cave," Marsh saidspeculatively, "perhaps it was just Allomancy You said that there is no record of any Allomancers before the Ascension"

"It is indeed a possibility, Master Marsh," Sazed said "There are very few legends about the origins of Alloree that Allomancers first ‘appeared with the mists’ "

Vin frowned She’d always assumed that the title "Mistborn" had coht She’d never considered that there er connection

Mist reacts to Allomancy It swirls when an Allomancer uses his abilities nearby And…what did I feel at the end? It was like I drew so from the mists

Whatever she’d done, she hadn’t been able to replicate it

Marsh sighed and stood He had been awake only a few hours, but he already seeht of the spikes were pulling it down

"Does that…hurt, Marsh?" she asked "The spikes, I mean?"

He paused "Yes All eleven of them… throb The pain reacts to my emotions somehow"

"Eleven?" Vin asked with shock

Marsh nodded "Two in the head, eight in the chest, one in the back to seal theether That’s the only way to kill an Inquisitor--you have to separate the top spikes fro, but it’s easier to just pull out the ht you were dead," Vin said "When we found the body and the blood at the Soothing station…"