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Chapter Text

PoV Kelsier

Kelsier breathed in the chill night air and looked upon the mist shrouded city of Luthadel from the city’s walls.

A longing he had consciously ignored these past three years eased, Kelsier loved this city just as much as he hated it. This is where he met Mare, this is where he made friends. This city saw his greatest triumphs and his longest fall.

As inevitable as sunrise, his eyes fell upon Kredik Shaw, its many peaked spires and sheer towers that rise high into the air, all of varying thickness, some large enough to contain large rooms and stairwells, and others are simply nothing more than thin rods of iron. There are no outer defensive walls surrounding the ‘palace’.His hatred spiked and the simmering coals of fury in his chest burst alight.

That ugly spiked monstrosity of a ‘palace’ is where the Lord Ruler lived.

I can beat him, I can kill him!, a part of Kelsier raged.

Kelsier quickly suppressed that part, with his personal mantra of, there is always another secret.

Lord Ruler is the tyrant that ruled Scadrial for last thousand years. Lord Ruler is the monster that oppressed millions and is personally responsible for the deaths of just as many Skaa.

Lord Ruler might not have killed all those Skaa with his own hands or magic, he might not have even ordered their deaths, but every Skaa dead under an overseers brutal whip in plantations, Kelsier laid at Lord Rulers feet, for every Skaa girl raped and then killed by the noblemen in the last thousand years, Kelsier held Lord Ruler responsible, every Skaa beaten to death for a noblewoman’s raised ire, is a debt Lord Ruler owed, every Skaa dead at forty, aged beyond their years by the back breaking work and malnutrition Kelsier counted as a murder done in Lord Ruler’s name.

For every dead Skaa in the last thousand years, the Lord Ruler is responsible, for creating this world, for imposing this monstrous system that demanded the blood, sweat and tears of Skaa to function.

Kelsier has seen better systems of governance, Lord Ruler had options, other, better means to control the Skaa and the Nobles, Lord Ruler could have built a society that did not need Skaa suffering, such a system would have been more Prosperous and more Just and required lot less effort to maintain.

But the Skaa suffering is the point of this system, a thing that Kelsier always suspected, a thing Mare and his brother Marsh had always insisted as truth but he had been too selfish then to truly listen or care, but recently he confirmed for himself. That confirmation only made Kelsier hate Lord Ruler more.

Lord Ruler called himself god of this world, a ‘Sliver of Infinity’.

I will kill that bastard, I will kill Lord Ruler, but the Lord Ruler has a secret, and once I find that secret I will destroy him, I already have a thread to pull. Ah Lord Ruler, you should not have called yourself a Sliver, because I know what that means. Tugging that single thread I will unravel all you secrets, Kelsier once again promised himself. And added another vow to that years old promise, he would destroy Kredik Shaw, he would do it, even if he had to do it with his bare hands, even if it took years, brick by brick, he would do it.

Kelsier pushed aside his vengeful thoughts, he is going to meet friends soon, after so long.

Dockson, Ham, Breeze, Sazed and even Marsh. And I need to find the girl, she is important.

He is going to need their help for what he plans on doing. And they will give it, he knows his friends after all, some will grumble, some will be enthusiastic, but all will help.

They are Mare approved, after all, Kelsier thought with fondness, grief tried to envelop him, to drown him in sadness and bitterness, but he pushed that aside, and let himself feel the love he still held for his dead wife. For a long time he had doubted her, suspected her of betrayal, a seed planted by few words uttered by Lord Ruler with seeming indifference, said so casually, Kelsier could not stop himself from taking them as true. Kelsier had tried so hard to squash the doubt, but like a persistent weed, it sprouted again and again. But no more, he now knew things, secrets and truths, that recontextualized everything he thought he knew.

She gave her life for mine, it is time I put her gift to greater use, a better use.

As ash began to fall and the sun started to rise in all its blood-red glory, Kelsier took one last look at his city, looked at the slowly dissipating mists, luminescent with reflected light, took in the ash streaked homes, and sneered at the ugly brown plants.

Then he adjusted the straps of his rucksack on his left shoulder, bent down, grabbed the handle of a long heavy rectangular box made completely of a silvery metal and lifted it up, made sure his grip on it is secure.

Kelsier checked his internal reserves, he had plenty of metals left, all sixteen of them.

Kelsier Burned Steel, faint blue lines sprung all around him, connecting his chest to every piece of metal nearby.

As the red rays of dawn’s light started to creep into the city, Kelsier dropped a coin from the walls down on to the street and followed the coin soon after, after falling for a few feet, he Pushed off the dropped coin at an angle, Kelsier flew in an arc towards a shadowed alleyway, as he neared the ground at a rapid pace, he dropped another coin, Burned Steel to lightly Push against the coin, simultaneously Burned Iron to lightly pull on a metal window frame he just passed. And with fine control gained from hundreds of hours of practice he slowly throttled the Burn on both metals and extinguished them as he landed softly.

Half a minute of unclasping and folding later, his Mistcloak is in his rucksack, Kelsier has his nobleman’s vest and coat on. And he stepped on to a main street and into dawn’s light.

The last days of the Final Empire have begun.

Chapter Text

PoV Kelsier

Kelsier strolled leisurely through Luthadel, a nobleman pedestrian is an unsual sight, but not so unusual that people will remark on it, the Skaa are too beaten down, too despondent and too afraid to even look upon Kelsier, their eyes are, as ever, are on the ground, his too fancy, too polished boots with gold plated detailing are enough for them to clear his path. For his 'fellow nobles' Kelsier walking instead of being carted around in a carriage or riding on a horse tells them something, that he is either too poor or too eccentric to be worth knowing.

As he strolled, Kelsier got a feel for the city, the general mood is slightly worse than it had been three years ago, but that is most probably due to the recent death of Lord Themos Tresting, a plantation noble, just a few days north-west of Luthadel, Kelsier expected this to happen when he killed Tresting, a noblemans death at the hands of 'rebel' Skaa always made things worse for the Skaa everywhere, atleast for a time, no doubt some nobles made a few displays of brutality against the Skaa, his killing of Tresting probably echoed out into the Final Empire and resulted in deaths of more Skaa than he freed from Tresting's plantation.

Ham can no doubt make a compelling argument, that Ham himself would not believe in, that Kelsier killing Tresting did more harm than good.

But that argument entirely misses the point, Kelsier could have stayed his hand and with his inaction, he would have reinforced the 'fact', Ila, daughter of Jess, is not worth saving, that the rape and murder of a girl and grief and heartbreak of a mother are a price worth paying to keep the status quo.

Kelsier can no longer abide by that. Yes, more Skaa died as a consequence of his actions, and he will grieve for them, but he will not accept responsibility for their deaths, that rests solely on the nobility, the system Lord Ruler created and on the Lord Ruler.

Finally, Kelsier neared the warehouse Dockson used for his legitimate business of importing wool yarn, which Docks in turn sold to businesses which wove yarn to cloth. Every worker in there would be completely clean, with no ties to the Underground. Dockson ran the business under assumed identity of a noble from Farmost Dominance, he would be in his office waiting for Kelsier.

Kelsier casually walked to the back of the warehouse, Burned Copper to hide his Allomancy, Burned Bronze to check for any allomancers nearby, Burned Tin to enhance his senses, took a quick look around to check if anybody was watching, no one was. Dropped a coin and Steel Pushed himself through windows Kelsier asked Dockson to keep open in his last comminuque.

Kelsier landed with a thud and Docks, waiting for Kelsier slightly jumped in the chair he was sitting in, directly in front of the open windows. Kelsier deposited the rucksack and the metal case on Docksons desk.

Seeing Docks after so long Kelsier's customary smile bloomed into a full grin and Docks echoed that grin, Docks got out of his chair so fast, it toppled to the ground, in a few long strides Docks drew near and Kelsier enclosed the slightly shorter but stouter man into a tight hug.

A little choked up, Kelsier whispered softly, "It is good to see you, my friend."

Breaking the hug, Docks put his hands on Kelsiers shoulders and with tears streaming down his eyes said, "Welcome Home, Kell".

Kelsier threw back his head to let out a heartfelt laugh and then drew Docks into another hug.

Once Kelsier got his mirth under control and Docks cleared his face of tears, Docks sent his workers home with a little bonus.

Kelsier and Docks settled down in two of the rooms chairs with a bottle of fine red wine between them and two half-full goblets in their hands.

They talked, Kelsier asked about who survived the fallout of their last job, what Docks and his other friends have been up to these past three years, he already knew most of it, of all his old friends it was Sazed who he met first after returning, and Sazed had kept an eye out for all of Kelsier's old friends. Even so, hearing it from Docks is somehow better.

Docks asked Kelsier what he had been up-to, Kelsier to his regret, can not be as truthful with Docks as Docks has been with Kelsier. There are somethings that are best not to be spoken aloud, not yet. Kelsier just told that Mare's death finally Snapped him and with his new allomantic abilities Kelsier escaped the Pits of Hathsin and has spent last two years training and planning.

Kelsier could see that Docks sensed that there is more to that story, but he knew Kelsier too well, Kelsier could feel the moment Docks decided to not ask further questions about what Kelsier is hiding.

Kelsier's smile broadened and Docks asked, "What is the job then?"

Kelsier drained his goblet, sighed in satisfaction, refilled his goblet to the brim, offered to pour for Dockson, at the other man's rolled eyes, poured Dockson's goblet to half full. Settled a bit more comfortably in his chair and said nonchalantly, "Destruction of the Final Empire and the death of the Lord Ruler, that is the job."

Docks goblet slipped from his suddenly nerveless fingers, spilling the wine, it is good thing I did not fill his to the brim, this is a damn fine vintage, as the goblet clattered in the sudden silence and Docks whisper-shouted in a strangled voice, "What?! Kelsier, are you out of your mind?"

Kelsier shrugged and said, "Probably, but that is not the point."

"What is the point then?", Docks demanded.

Kelsier smiled with all of his teeth and answered, "I know it can be done. I have one sure way, but I do not want to use it. I will, if I have to, but my preferred method", Kelsier took out a finger-length silvery white bar of metal, showing it to Docks, "has some kinks I need to work out. This is called the Elventh Metal, there are some legends in the north that claim it could be used to kill Lord Ruler."

Docks widened eyes narrowed into slits as he took a long look at Kelsier and his grin and said slowly, "You are confident, you are completely sure that you can do it", at Kelsier's nod, Docks continued, "what is the plan, then?"

"The Plan, well, that we need to work out after gathering others. The goals are to help the Skaa Rebellion take Luthadel, and killing the Lord Ruler. I already contacted the Rebellion, they are in."

Docks mulled over Kelsier's words while drinking his wine, and finally said, "I will put out a call for others. We do not have a Smoker though, Steel Ministry caught Trap two months ago. Who do you want me to call?"

Kelsier sighed heavily at Trap's fate, and answered, "Call in Clubs."

"Why not Ruddy?", Dkcks asked.

Kelsier shook his head and said, "He is a good Smoker. But he is not a good enough man."

Docks shook his head in exasperation and said, "Only you, Kelsier. Is there anything else?"

Kelsier took a deep breath, he almost wanted to do this himself, but no, Kelsier does not have a network of informants anymore and Docks does and said, "I want you to find someone for me, a young girl, short, dark hair, dark eyes. She should be part of the Underworld, I don't know for sure. I don't know her name. She is.."

Kelsier trailed off at the surprise writ large on Docksons face, and asked eagerly, "You know her?"

Docks nodded slowly, "Perhaps, I know someone matching the description you gave, one of the thieving crews tried to scam Marsh and I, a while back, she Soothed us. Marsh said she could do more than Sooth. I was about to bring her up actually."

Kelsier stood up eagerly and said, "Which crew? Where are they?"

Docks remained seated, looking at Kelsier speculatively, asked, "Who is she, Kell? Why the rush?".

"Someone important Docks. Someone I need to find. Come, we need to go get her", Kelsier insisted.

Perhaps seeing the mixed look of stubbornness and eagerness on Kelsier's face, Docks sighed, giving in and said, "Fine, fine, I will lead the way."

Kelsier left the rucksack on Docksons table, but took the metal case in hand and followed after Docks.

Docks raised a questioning brow at Kelsier taking the metal case, but Kelsier just shrugged. Docks sighed again and led the way.

Chapter Text

PoV Vin

The whip struck her already bloody back and fiery pain raced through her, Vin sobbed, with snot dribbling down her nose and tears streaming down her eyes. She had stopped pleading with Camon five minutes back.

What did I teach you?, said a sneering voice in Vin's head, her brother, Reen's voice, Keep your head down and your mouth shut, fade into the background, and what did you do? You opened your stupid mouth. You deserve this.

Vin could not stop her mind from complaining, If I hadn't said something we might have been caught.

And this is your reward, Vin could see Reen's sneer deepening in her mind, sob harder, you stupid girl, lean into the pain, make yourself seem more pathetic, when you are not strong, you best make sure everyone knows you are not a threat.

Even though her brother left her six months ago, she could not stop following his lessons. Vin sobbed harder.

And she cursed herself for using up all her Luck on the Obligator, I should have held some back, and Reen's voice echoed her thought with, Always, leave yourself a way out.

Another whip crack and before the last wave of pain ran it's course a new one started, flaring up the throbbing agony of lacerations on her back to new heights, Vin's vision started to go black at the corners, and she started to panic, she did not want to lose consciousness, not now, not with her 'crew' around, Camon might decide to sell her to a whorehouse or one of the others might rape her, Oh Lord Ruler, please, please, I don't want to..

Before Vin could finish her thought, she heard an alarmingly creaking sound and risked looking up towards the door to her crew's hideout, it is bulging slightly, then with a sound like thunder the door pulled itself out of the frame and flew five feet forward in an instant before stopping with a jerk and crashed down.

A tall man with light blonde hair stood where the door had been, the light from behind him and weak light from the hideout, wreathed his form in shadows, but Vin could see hard planes of his hawkish face and a fierce scowl that seemed wrong on his lips. Vin heard a metallic ting of a flipped coin, saw a flash of gold as the coin reached the peak of its arc, as the coin half descended, Vin heard a whoosh of displaced air, the squelch of metal entering squishy meat and thud of felled body, with hope and disbelief mixed slight horror, Vin turned around and looked back.

She saw Camon laid out, the whip still in his hand, still in his nobleman attire from his meeting with the Obligator, there is a look of confusion on his face, between his eyes, there is a small dimpling, leaking a thin trickle of blood, width and height of a coin, her eyes almost unwillingly looked up to see a spatter of grey something, bits of bloody off-white bone and blood, behind Camon, up and up her eyes went and at the height of a man she could see it, a gold something, misshapen, half embedded in the rooms wooden wall.

That is a coin, it is bent out of shape because if went through a skull, Vin looked down at Camon's body, she has seen death before, hard not to have as a Skaa, especially as a part of Underworld. She hated Camon, she had wished him to escape his clutches for so long, the only reason she did not, is because she had nowhere else to go. But she did not hate him so much that she wished Camon dead, Vin did not think she hated anyone that much, ever. Now, Camon is dead and she is does not know what she is feeling, numbness, but a something like relief too, but there is something more she could not name.

The suffocating silence in the wake of Camon's death broke with the sound of the man's hard boots on the stone steps and the metallic tings of the new coin the man continues to flip, once he reached the floor proper, he looked around the room, pausing for an instant at the every pale face of Camon's crew members, finally his eyes rested on Camon's corpse, the man's scowl deepened and his hazel eyes hardened to stone.

Finally, the man spoke in an iron tone, "All of you have five minutes to gather what's yours and clear the building. After that you have exactly eleven hours and fifty five minutes to get out of Luthadel, if any of you are in city after that, you are dead men walking. I am Kelsier and you have my word on it."

The other crew members scrambled, running every which way, as Vin tried to push through her pain to stand, suddenly the man was there, his hands on her shoulders steadying her, as Vin tried to shy away from his touch, the man's, Kelsier's hands tightened on her shoulders, not enough hurt, but tight enough that she needs to use strength she did not have at the moment, if she wants to dislodge them.

"Not you, child, not you, I should have worded that better", Kelsier said in a far softer tone, she looked into his eyes and there is a warmth there that she did not understand.

Kelsier guided her to a stool near the bar with obvious care, a part of her wanted to panic and flail, to get away from the man who so casually killed Camon, but there is something smothering all her emotions, after far too long, Vin made the connection. Kelsier is using Luck on her, far more strongly than she had ever been able to.

Kelsier walked around her and got behind the bar, after a few moments of rummaging he found what he is looking for, he deposited a dusty bottle of wine on the bar, looked around, found a clean mug, poured mug half full of wine, then drew out a small silvery metal case from a cleverly hidden pocket between his belt and the waistband, poured some sort of metal dust from the case in the half-full mug, stirred it thoroughly, and pushed the mug in-front of Vin and said softly, "Drink this, all of it. It will help with the pain and the injuries."

Vin took the mug in hand and lifted it half-way to her mouth before stopping herself, there is still a blanket smothering her emotions, and she almost drank something not prepared by her own hands, as she was about to throw the wine and whatever he mixed in it, at Kelsier's eyes before running, Kelsier closed his hand around her own, looked Vin in the eyes, and said softly, "Hurting you is last thing I will ever do, Vin. Trust me, please drink it."

The thing smothering her emotions receded, she could feel again, the fear, the panic, the anger, and even a strange sorrow, she looked into Kelsier's eyes and saw something there, something she caught rare glimpses of in Reen's eyes, she did not know what it was, the sounds of panicked running around of her 'fellow' crew members faded from her mind, all of her focus remained on Kelsier's hazel eyes.

Reen's imagined voice, shouted at her to not be stupid, to run, but something in her responded to what she saw in Kelsier's eyes and without knowing why she was doing it, Vin downed the cup. Nothing happened, her disappointment must have shown on her face, because Kelsier chuckled softly and said, "Look inside yourself."

It took Vin a moment to figure out what that meant, she 'looked' as she does to check on her Luck. And gasped as felt something in her gut, something like her Luck, but different and many times stronger.

Kelsier gave a nod and smiled, drawing closer to her, as though to tell her a secret and said, smiling wide, "Burn it."

She did not know what exactly Kelsier said, but she understood what he meant, and used the shining thing in her gut like she used her Luck. And gasped again, power rushed through her body, it doused her pain, stamped it down to bare flicker, the lacerations on her back hurt barely more than a slap. Vin felt amazing, like she could run a hundred miles and punch through steel.

Kelsier nodded, turned his back to her, looked for something. Seemingly finding it, he grabbed a jug of water, deposited it in front of Vin, took the mug from Vin's hands and started mixing the powder from the before with water in her mug.

Vin took a quick look around around Camon's lair and saw that its empty but for one stout man, dressed as a nobleman, much like Kelsier, sitting at the table in the middle of the room, there is a silvery metal case on the table, the case had the same shine as smaller metal case Kelsier took out from his hidden pocket. The man had dark hair and neatly trimmed half-beard. The man saw Vin looking, smiled and gave a little wave.

Vin uncertainly gave a wave in return and turned her eyes back to Kelsier, who pushed the mug towards her, and still smiling said, "Drink again, Pewter Burns fast, fastest among the eight basic allomantic metals."

Vin started a little as she checked and found out a third of the power in her gut is already gone. Vin returned her attention to Kelsier and said questioningly, "You are an Allomancer, a Misting."

Kelsier smiled and said cheerfully, "Close, I am what is called a Mistborn, a Misting is someone who can burn a single Allomantic metal and produce a single effect. A Mistborn is someone who can burn all Allomantic metals. You are Mistborn too."

Vin heard of Mistborn, stories, legends, she does not know how much of them is true but every story agreed, Mistborn are incredibly powerful. A part of Vin surged at hearing that she is Mistborn. Hearing that title applied to herself felt right.

Telling someone good news is the oldest and simplest con in the book, Reen's sneering voice cut into her thoughts, it is effective though.

Vin gathered herself, she has let down her guard far too much. Vin looked at Kelsier, asked flatly, "What do you want?"

"Blunt, aren't you", Kelsier chuckled with obvious amusement and continued, "I am a crewleader, Vin. Not the type of crewleader Camon is. I am of different kind, I would like to believe of better kind. I want you to become my apprentice and join the crew I am gathering for a job. Even if you don't join the crew, offer of the apprenticeship remains open."

Vin nodded slowly, she wanted to say yes, she longed to say yes, legendary power is hard to say no to, but she mastered herself, Reen's words echoed in her mind, Everything is a con, nothing is ever free, asked, "Why? Why did you kill Camon? Why did you help me? Why are you willing to share your secrets with me?"

Kelsier threw back his head and laughed, it was a rich sound, an honest sound, it sounded free, it sounded beautiful, it had a pull to it, a part of her wanted to join in on Kelsier's mirth, to laugh with him. Vin firmly shut that part down, Kelsier's laughter trailed off and he said smiling, "Because I can, Vin. What Camon did to you, beating you, terrorizing you, what your crew did, standing around, either enjoying the show or ignoring it, it is a common enough thing. On any other day, I might have given Camon a solid beating for it and thought of an appropriate punishment. But today, with you, I didn't, I couldn't. He had that whip raised in his hand, a look of glee on his face, there you were, cowering. It reminded me of something, another whipping, and I did today, what I couldn't do that day", Kelsier paused there, his eyes far off, seeing something long past, he shook his head and continued with a small smile, "I helped because I can, as for the offer of apprenticeship and joining my crew, well, I have a good feeling about you."

So he lost someone, apparently to a whipping, Vin nodded to herself, that made some sense, and Vin asked one more question, "What is the job?"

Kelsier's smile widened, as though she already said yes and said, "For that answer you would have to wait a few hours", then Kelsier turned to the other man in the room, "Docks, put out the call, we will use this place for the meeting."

The other man, Docks, gave a smile and a nod and left the hideout.

Chapter Text

PoV Vin

Kelsier wandered around the hideout, after insisting that Vin down at least two more mugs of pewter mixed water, in ten minutes he found five hidden compartments. He seems to be searching for something.

Whatever it is, he apparently found it, Vin heard him exaggeratedly exclaim an 'Ah-ha'.

Kelsier returned to the bar with a sheet of paper, a pen and an inkwell. Vin could see Kelsier draw a table on the paper, he wrote something rapidly and turned the paper towards Vin. And started talking.

"There are ten widely known Allomantic metals. Eight of them are called basic metals and last two are called higher metals. We will talk about higher metals later, they are a bit, hmmm, esoteric. Allomantic metals and their powers follow a few rules, but the first rule is, they come in pairs, a pure metal and its alloy, the pure metal always pulls and alloy always pushes. With me so far?", Kelsier asked.

Vin slowly nodded, it felt like it made sense, but she needed some clarification, "What does it mean, pulling and pushing?"

"Docks told me you Soothed him before, he is the one who told me where to find you. You understand what I am talking about?", Kelsier asked, Vin nodded, he is talking about her Luck, Kelsier continued, "You Pushed down on his emotions, making him less suspicious, easier to scam, that is mental Allomacy, you Burned Brass, probably from the trace amounts of it in the water you drank, to do it. First rule of practical Allomancy, never use Emotional Allomancy on Obligators, they are trained to recognize when their emotions are being manipulated. Brass is an alloy, its paired pure metal is Zinc, we can Burn it to Pull on emotions, enflaming them, that is called Roiting. Pewter, what you are Burning now, is an alloy of Tin, you are Burning Pewter to Push yourself internally, physically, it enhances your strength, speeds up your body's healing, dampens your pain. Tin is its complementary Pulling metal, it increases your senses. Then, there are Iron and Steel, Copper and Bronze."

Kelsier took out seven other small metal cases, and arranged them on the paper, alongside Pewter's case, each case beside the name of a metal on the table he drew. And said, "You will Burn a bit of each and I will explain what they do, except for Tin. As I said, Tin increases your senses, that includes your sense of pain. Not a good idea when you are injured, is it?"

At Vin's understanding nod, Kelsier smiled and said, "We will start with Zinc and Brass, since you already have some experience with Emotional Allomancy, their usage is external, since it affects others and not yourself."

Kelsier mixed just a pinch of them with water, in a small glass vial he took out and gave it to Vin. Vin downed the vial and looked inside herself, she could feel her Luck and something similar to it, a small lump of power, not even a fifth of Pewter's power, but many times greater than she ever had access to as Luck, Kelsier nodded at her and said, "Go ahead, use it on me."

Vin used her Luck and tried to lessen Kelsier's obvious good mood, a general smothering of multiple emotions, instead of targeting just one or two emotions as she usually did, the smile on his lips widened a bit and he nodded encouragingly, and said, "You tried to dampen my good mood. Go on, use the other one."

Vin did, Kelsier's smile widened even more and gained a quality of satisfaction. He started to say something, but he stopped and looked towards the door, with a look of focus on his face. Vin too turned sideways to look at the door, in half a minute Vin heard footsteps and a few more moments after that she could see Docks.

Kelsier heard the footsteps before me, is he Burning Tin then?

"Docks, are they coming then?", Kelsier called out cheerfully.

Docks drew nearer and said, "Yes, everyone you named, except for Marsh."

Kelsier's smile dimmed a bit, he nodded slowly and said, "I figured, I will get Marsh", he turned to Vin and said, "It seems I have a brother to wrangle. Why don't get yourself cleaned up, Vin, we should have a few hours before others start to trickle in", he gathered his metal cases and tucked them away, but not before pouring generously from Pewter and Copper cases into her mug and said to her, "Stir it well and keep them on a low Burn, Copper hides Allomancy, I have been Burning it since I came in, I will talk more about it later. Drink it quickly."

With that almost command Kelsier left the room.

"He does that", a dry voice said from beside her.

Vin tore her eyes away from the empty doorway Kelsier went through, and chastised herself, stop letting your guard down.

Vin drew herself in, drank from the mug, the lump of power from pewter increased and she Burned the new lump of power, Copper, and asked warily, "Does what?"

"Giving orders and expecting to be obeyed", Docks said wryly and continued, "I am Dockson, Vin. Docks for friends. Here take this", he proferred a cloth bag to her and said, "There some bandages and clean clothes in there, the clothes should fit you, if they don't, tell me, I will send for different ones."

Vin eyed the bag and but did not take it, and asked, "Why? Why is he really helping me?"

Dockson chuckled, sat down on the same table he had before, deposited the cloth bag in another chair and, said, "Allomancer thieving crews have always operated on more trust than regular thieving crews. Allomancy is passed down through blood. You can not be an Allomancer without having noble blood", Dockson locked eyes with her and asked softly, "So, what does it mean that there are Skaa allomancers?"

Vin's throat tightened and her lips dried, all of Reen's lessons hammered at her to keep her mouth shut, she pushed past it and whispered, "Half-breeds."

"Yes, Half-Breeds", Dockson nodded, "Who are not supposed to exist. Lord Ruler is generally far more lax with his nobles than with the Skaa, but the law against Half-Breeds is one law where he does not allow even his favoured noble families any wiggle room. It is Steel Inquisitors one of the primary duties to hunt down and kill half-breeds. And they are very good at it. Steel Inquisitors torture whichever Skaa allomancer they find for information. One caught Skaa allomancer can probably compromise many others, depending on how connected they were. A Skaa allomancer with a reputation for betrayal would not last in the Underground. As I said, Allomancer crews can not exist much less operate without trust."

Vin mulled over that answer, it made sense but it felt incomplete, so she asked since Dockson seemed to be unbothered by her questions, "But Kelsier is different, even from what you told."

Dockson laughed and answered, "Yes, he is. Kelsier gained his allomantic abilities relatively recently, just two years ago I believe. But since he was young he had an in with allomantic side of the Underground. Kell started out as a thief, he recruited me almost as soon as I stepped a foot in Luthadel, I was a freshly escaped plantation Skaa, and barely eighteen then, and Kelsier barely fourteen, Mare, a sixteen year old Tineye, joined us soon after, this was some twenty four years ago now. By time we were in our twenties we were the most infamous crew of thieves in Luthadel. And I can honestly say, that was entirely because of Kell. Everybody told him, that trust only goes so far, that there is no place for friendship and camaraderie in a thieving crew. Kell refused to believe that. He just refused," Dockson had a fond smile and a look of wonder in his eyes, as he shook his head, and continued, "Mare was much the same, eventually they married. They are my best friends. Others joined one by one, drawn in by Kelsier and Mare's conviction and charisma, many parted ways with us, not willing to really believe, but some stayed, some became friends. So, yes, Kelsier is different."

Friends, Vin thought, Reen scoffed in disgust in her mind, but she pushed it aside, Friends for twenty four years, is that possible? Really possible?

Vin looked at Dockson's face, all she saw there was honesty, Reen's voice cut in to her thoughts with an angry mutter, He is lying, this is a con.

What would be the point in lying about this? Vin argued back with Reen's voice.

Stupid girl, they just said you are Mistborn, you are potentially very powerful, they obviously want you, they are dangling friendship to snare you, to use you!, Reen's voice gave a scathing retort.

And is that not better than what I have now? Isn't pretend kindness and friendship better than obvious hate and exploitation?, Vin demanded in return and the voice faded away.

Vin returned her focus to Dockson and asked, "Where is Mare then?"

Dockson eyes flashed with sadness and he grew melancholy, sighing, he answered, "Three years ago we planned a job too audacious even for us, we tried to rob Kredik Shaw, rob Lord Ruler himself. Everything went fine, in the beginning, only Kelsier, Mare and two others actually entered the palace. Something went wrong, Lord Ruler and three Steel Inquisitors were waiting for them. Kelsier and Mare managed to buy enough time for the other two to escape, but Kell and Mare got caught. They were sent to Pits of Hathsin. We assumed someone betrayed us, some even said it was Mare who did it. But nobody knew for sure. Kell told me, a year in Pits of Hathsin, Mare was murdered by the guards of the Pits and Kelsier Snapped as Mistborn. Finally awakening his Allomancy and he used it to escape the Pits of Hathsin. According to Kell nobody betrayed us, his training as Mistborn answered the question of how they got caught to him."

"How did they get caught then?", Vin could not stop herself from asking, she did not know why.

"Kell did not tell me, I know of Allomancy as much as any non-Allomancer can, even so, Mistborn are incredibly rare, before Kelsier I did not know of any other Skaa Mistborn. Now, I know of two, including you", Dockson answered calmly, it is his calm that clued her in that Vin is on the edge of her seat, glaring at Dockson, the betrayal that was not a betrayal, I want to know the answer, so badly. Why?

Vin did not know why she was so invested in that answer. Vin gathered herself and relaxed as much she can, this Kelsier and Dockson seem to be able to draw out emotions she had been sure Reen beat out of her.

Twenty four years of friendship, a part of her whispered those words into her mind with so much longing.

Dockson eyed her and said with a soft smile, "Perhaps you will find out the answer for that question before I do, Kell offered to teach you after all, he is not one to do things half-way. Go, freshen up, Vin, others would start trickling in soon. Even with Burning Pewter, it would be best to bandage those lacerations, the risk of infection is too great, there is some rubbing alcohol in there to clean the wounds."

And Dockson once again gestured towards the cloth bag he brought in.

Vin decided to take it and retreated towards the hideout's sleeping quarters, wash-rooms are behind them.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

It took Vin barely five minutes to finishing bathing, even with several locked doors between them and Pewter Burning in her gut giving her increased strength and enhanced reflexes, a lifetime of experience insisted that she spend as little time as possible being vulnerable.

Applying the bandages took half an hour, it might have taken her longer if Pewter did not also increase her flexibility, but it did and she was experienced enough in taking care of her own wounds to do a passable job of it.

Vin retrieved her earring and put it on, the only thing she owned she cared enough to keep safe and returned to the hideouts common room, noting for the first time, that Camon's dead body is not there anymore, it has not been there for awhile, it had been there when Kelsier guided her to the stool at the bar, and it hadn't been there when Kelsier left, the splatter of blood and bone and brain matter is gone too. But she could still see the coin embedded in the wall.

How out of sorts am I, that I keep missing vital details, keep getting emotional?

Vin saw that the common room is more well lit than before and Dockson is at the same table with the silvery metal case on it and is doing, honest to Lord Ruler, paperwork, he had a small pocket sized book open in his hand and he is writing something on the first page of a loose sheaf of papers.

Vin took at a seat at the table, but not before walking behind Dockson and looking at what he is writing, it was mostly numbers, big numbers and abbreviated words.

As she sat down she saw an amused tilt to Dockson's lips as he continued to work, and flushed slightly, the man obviously knew what she did.

Curious, Vin asked, "What are you doing?"

"Hmm, Kelsier asked for an accounting of his assets, you see, I manage logistics for Kelsier, that means making sure the Crew has what it needs when we take on a job, since it's Kelsier, it is up-to me to make sure the money he earns is not frittered away on excesses. The job Kelsier is planning is going to cost a lot", Dockson answered distractedly.

"How much does he have?", Vin asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Roughly three million boxings, I do not have an exact number yet, only a third of it is liquid, remaining is tied up in businesses all over the Final Empire. And only half of what is liquid is even in Luthadel, it is going to be pain to get the remaining into the city and to liquidate assets to boxings, we will probably lose out on half a million boxings if I keep to Kelsier's insisted schedule of six months", Dockson muttered the answer, still focused on his work.

Three million boxings, Three MILLION BOXINGS, Oh, Lord Ruler, Vin felt her knees grow weak, she softly whispered, "He could live like a noble for the rest of his days."

Even though she whispered it, Dockson heard it all the same and gave a sardonic laugh in turn and said, "Vin, Kell could have done that after the second year since he began thieving. All three of use could have. Kell kept doing it because he liked it far too much, and he liked tweaking the nobility's noses even better. Mare kept doing it because she wanted to use the money to bring down the Final Empire, somehow. And I kept doing it because, well, because I do not have sense enough to say no to Kell's mad schemes."

And another thought struck Vin, Dockson had access to Three Million Boxings, for years, even if he was too afraid of Kelsier to steal from him while he was around, surely after Kelsier is sentenced to Pits of Hathsin, Dockson could have taken all of it for himself.

But he didn't. Why? Camon would have betrayed his own mother for three thousand boxings, much less Three Million Boxings. So why didn't Dockson do it?

Vin wanted to ask that question so much. So so much. But, she didn't, somehow, she is almost afraid of the answer to that question.

So, she remained silent.

Chapter Text

PoV Vin

The silence lasted another half an hour before the sound of two sets of footsteps broke it. And Vin heard voices.

"...someone through your Soothing, do you take away their ability to choose", a deep voice said conversationally.

"Dear Hammond, that question is asinine, and has gotten repetitive. All social interaction is manipulation, just because I have an extra tool to make myself a bit more persuasive does not mean I take away someone's free will, that idea is simply preposterous", the other person replied, there is a quality of smugness to the second voice.

In a few moments two men entered the common room, the first man down the steps had the build of a soldier. He wore a loose, sleeveless shirt that exposed a pair of well-sculpted arms. He was impressively muscular, but not massive, and had close-cropped hair that stuck up slightly on his head.

The soldier's companion was a sharply dressed man in a nobleman's suit—plum vest, gold buttons, black overcoat—complete with short-brimmed hat and dueling cane. He was older than the soldier, and was a bit portly. He removed his hat upon entering the room, revealing a head of well-styled black hair.

The two men dropped their discussion as they caught sight of Dockson, the man with the build of a soldier, exclaimed happily, "Docks!"

Dockson returned the small book to his coat pocket, the loose sheaf of papers joined the book a moment later and turned towards the men, Dockson strode towards them and with a laugh drew beefy man into a short hug, after that squeezed the shoulder of the well dressed man companionably.

The three men returned to the table and seated themselves and the well dressed man gestured towards Vin and asked, "Who is this then? The new Twixt?"

A Twixt is a go between different crews, they are rarely needed, crews do not work together often, not enough trust to go around, but it does happen.

Dockson chuckled and said, "No, no, Kelsier is hoping to recruit her to the crew, Kell says she is Mistborn. He ran off the crew that used this place."

Both men turned towards her with obvious interest and continued to stare. Vin felt a spark of annoyance at Dockson for sharing her abilities without asking her, but tamped that reaction down and asked, "What?"

"Just curious my dear, Mistborn are a rare breed, I would imagine there are less than a dozen in the whole of the Final Empire, Kelsier and you included", the well dressed man answered her, before turning to Dockson and said smilingly, "Two Mistborn, eh? This bodes well."

"I wonder if you will say the same when Kell finally tells you all what the job is", Dockson replied drily and continued in the same tone, he turned towards Vin and gestured at the two men and said, "Vin, this is Breeze, he is a Soother, and this is Hammond, Ham, he is a Thug."

Vin turned towards the soldier looking man, Hammond with obvious confusion.

"I am a Pewter Misting", Hammond answered, sensing Vin's question.

Vin nodded in understanding.

Breeze looked at Vin and said leadingly, "I could use a drink.."

Vin gave him a blank look, Dockson chuckled and said, "Do not bother Breeze, Kell has her Burning Copper. I will get you your drink". And Dockson went to the bar to collect the dusty bottle Kelsier first found and gathered some mugs.

As Dockson reuturned, Breeze gestured towards the silvery metal case on the table and asked, "What is this then?"

"It's Kelsier's", Dockson are answered without missing a beat.

Breeze gave Dockson a dry look and asked again, "I mean what is in it? For that matter, what metal is it made of, I don't recognize it."

Dockson gave shrug and said, "I do not know, the answer to both questions. He only left it here because I remained here to keep an eye on it, if I hadn't stayed he would have taken it with him. And there is no obvious way to open it either."

"Have you tried looking for less obvious ways to open it", Breeze asked sardonically, Dockson once again gave a shrug, but he did not stop Breeze from running his hands over the case, Ham leaned a bit forward with a look of interest on his face.

Vin kept an eye on what they were doing but kept some of her focus on the entryway, Dockson said there would be more coming.

Breeze and Ham continued to get more and more intrigued and excited by how impenetrable the case is. Vin supposes, their reaction told her something about the what kind of men they were by how they reacted to a challenge. Camon would have grown frustrated and angry if something stumped him, and Reen would have declared that, it probably was a con to distract from more important things.

Ham and Breeze trailed off from their excited chatter at the sound of footsteps.

The newcomer wore a dull tan overcoat, a pair of brown trousers, and a simple white shirt. However, his face was far more distinctive than his clothing. It was knotted and gnarled, like a twisted piece of wood, and his eyes shone with the level of disapproving dissatisfaction only the elderly can display. Vin couldn't quite place his age—he was young enough that he wasn't stooped over, yet he was old enough that he made even the middle-aged Breeze look youthful.

He gave disdainful look at Breeze, but his demeanour considerably lightened when his eyes rested on Dockson.

Dockson left the table to go to the man, and shook his hand respectfully, with a few softly spoken sentences exchanged between them, Dockson led the older man to the table.

As the older man seated himself, Dockson gave a small wave encompassing Breeze, Ham and Vin and said, "Everyone, this is Clubs. Clubs, you know Breeze and Ham", Ham gave a respectful nod to Clubs, Breeze did not bother, Dockson pointed Vin out and said, "And this is Vin, she is new and a Mistborn, Kelsier hopes to recruit her."

Again annoyance briefly flared in Vin's gut, but she kept her peace. Dockson focused on her for a moment and said, "Clubs is a Smoker, a copper Misting."

Vin turned to Clubs and gave a nod. Clubs gave her a doubtful look, he seemed to be ready to say something, but Breeze and Ham's increasingly dubious ideas about what is in the case and how to open it, drew his interest and thoroughly distracted him.

Dockson gave her a dry smile, but did not bother to start a conversation.

Vin heard another set of footsteps only a few minutes later, and once again the focus of their group turned towards the doorway, once the man come into view, Breeze, Ham and Clubs faces turned sour for a moment.

The newcomer is an unassuming man, and Vin had trouble understanding why the other three were so displeased about his attendance. Short with curly brown hair, he was dressed in simple gray Skaa clothing and a patched, soot-stained brown worker's coat. He regarded the surroundings with a look of disapproval, but he was nowhere near as openly hostile as Clubs had when he first came in.

Once again, Dockson greeted the man, apparently named Yeden, with a smile on his face and drew him to chair beside his own. Everyone else gave Yeden a nod in greeting and Yeden returned it, but nobody attempted to start a conversation with the man and Dockson did not introduce Vin to him as he did with others.

It took another half an hour before Kelsier cheerfully strode into the room, whistling an unfamiliar tune, as a rule Skaa are not allowed activities that can be considered relaxing, but still, a few well worn songs are secretly hummed among themselves, perhaps this is a tune known to nobles.

Everyone at the table rose to stand, Vin followed behind them, Ham, Breeze and Dockson had smiles on their faces, even Clubs and Yeden assumed a respectful posture.

Behind Kelsier a man marched in, tall and broad-shouldered, he had a statuesque rigidity. He wore modest clothing—a simple shirt and trousers with a loose Skaa jacket. His left arm was folded behind his back and he has a look of dissatisfaction, and he had a hard, square face that looked a bit familiar. Vin glanced back at Kelsier. The similarity was obvious.

Seeing the man behind Kelsier, Yeden blurted out, "Marsh! He promised you'd be joining the job, but I, well, welcome back!"

Marsh's already stony face, hardened a little more as he replied, "I am not back yet, my brother insisted that this will be worth my time. I am here for them same reason as all of you. To hear what Kelsier has to say."

Yeden turned towards Kelsier, who smiled broadly and gave Yeden a wink before turning towards Breeze and Ham, hugs were shared and backs were patted.

Kelsier bid all of them to sit, Marsh stood for long moment holding Kelsier's eyes but sit he did.

Kelsier turned a chair the wrong way, sat on it, rested his forearms on the chairs backrest, looked everyone at the table in the eyes for at-least a moment, "Gentlemen, Mistress Vin", Kelsier said with utter confidence and a crooked grin, "The job is the destruction of the Final Empire and killing the Lord Ruler."

Vin's head whipped around to Kelsier, he still had a smile on his lips, Vin did not know what she is feeling but she thought, Lord Ruler! He is insane.

Breeze and Ham started to chuckle, which turned into a full blown laugh, Kelsier joined them, only then did Vin realise that she had spoken her thoughts aloud.

The laughter went on for long minutes and Vin stared at Kelsier, Breeze and Ham's laughter trailed off first and they too started to stare at Kelsier, joining everyone else at the table.

Kelsier conitnued to laugh for a minute more, but managed to control his mirth, his eyes still had an amused twinkle, his lips still had a smile as he turned to Vin and said, "I probably am, Vin", he stretched out his hand and dragged the silvery metal case towards him, gave everyone around the table a look, patted the case and said, "It can be done. What is in here can kill Lord Ruler. Using it will probably kill me, but it can definitely kill Lord Ruler."

Every eye turned on to the silvery metal case, and remained stuck their for a long minute.

A weapon to kill the Lord Ruler, Vin did not believe it, not truly, but even the idea of such a weapon existing is compelling. Lord Ruler is a thousand years old, he is a living god, not a benevolent one, true, but he is the god of Skaa and nobles, all the same.

How can a god be killed?

It is Marsh who broke their reverie, he asked gruffly with some suppressed emotion, "What is it?"

"Now, that is a secret I am not willing to share, not here and not yet. Be assured I will tell you when certain preparations are complete. However, there is more, a second method to kill Lord Ruler," Kelsier took out a small bar of silver-white metal from his vest and put it on the metal case, and continued, "This is called the Eleventh Metal, there are stories, legends, in the north, that say this can be used to kill Lord Ruler. I haven't worked out the how yet, but I would prefer to use this, instead of what is in the case, if I can, chances of me dying from using this are a lot smaller than me using what is in the case."

Breeze looking a little pale faced, asked, "It is that dangerous?"

Kelsier shrugged and said nonchalantly, "If I opened the case now, we will all be dead in a minute, if not faster."

At those words everyone leaned away as far as they can while still seated, except for Marsh, Breeze and Ham looked particularly queasy, they had been trying to open it, after all. Kelsier chuckled and said, "No worries, it is contained as long as it in there", he patted the case almost affectionately and continued, "Let us get to the meat of the matter. I assure you, I can kill Lord Ruler. What all of you are here for, is to answer the question, 'How to destroy the Final Empire?' Even after the Lord Ruler is dead, the Final Empire will continue on, it has momentum, it has a thousand years of tradition and it has powerful people, the Nobles, the Steel Ministry, the Steel Inquisitors, perhaps even some Skaa, who are very invested in it continuing as it is. In the immediate aftermath of Lord Rulers death, the Empire will shatter, probably most powerful noble houses in each Dominance will assume control of that Dominance after a period of scrambling, inevitably they will start to fight each other to reforge the Final Empire. But the situation of Skaa will remain the same, slaves to the nobility", here he nodded towards Yeden and said, "That is why I have reached out to the Skaa Rebellion. I want to the Rebellion to be in position to assume control as soon as Lord Ruler dies. Not just in the Central Dominance, but in as many Dominances as they can."

With great effort Vin stopped her mouth from dropping open, but she could not stop the widening of her eyes however. The sheer audacity of Kelsier's plan and the confidence with which he uttered it stunned her. Vin dragged her eyes away from Kelsier and took in the others, except for Marsh and Dockson, everyone of them wore an expression of shock.

It was Breeze who finally broke the silence, "It is all well and good that you found a cause to fight for Kell, but I am a thief and a conman. This job went beyond risky and entered realm of insane. Forget our fees", Breeze gestured to Ham and Clubs and himself and continued derisively, "operational costs alone would amount to a million, easily. Who is going to fund it? The Rebellion?"

Yeden bristled at the tone, but Kelsier silenced him with a wave of his hand and turned to Dockson and said, "Docks, you want to answer that?"

"Over the years Kell, Mare and I made around four million boxings. Kell and Mare's share is around three million and mine is a million. Of that four million, a million and half is liquid and half of that is Luthadel. If you agree to take the job, Breeze, Ham and Clubs, you each get a hundred thousand in down-payment, today, with another hundred and fifty when the job is done, which Kell estimates will take a year. We will start the operation right away, with remaining four hundred and fifty we have at hand to pay for day to day costs. In six months the process of liquidating non-liquid assets will be complete, so the money will come in as needed as we ramp up the operations", Dockson said flatly.

"There you have it, gentlemen, money is not an issue. And there is something more, you might get your hands on Lord Ruler's own hoard", Kelsier said.

"What do you mean?" Ham asked, shaking away the dazed expression on his face.

"There is a reason why Lord Ruler sends those he means to die to the Pits of Hathsin. The Pits are where Atium is mined", at that statement shock rippled around the table, it seems only Vin did not know of the significance of what it meant, "All the Atium in circulation right now will only amount to what the Pits produce in a month. Lord Ruler hoards the remainder, there should be a small hill of Atium, somewhere, but it is probably in Kredik Shaw."

That seemed to cheer up Ham and Breeze, even Clubs scowl lessened a small degree. Yeden's faint scowl grew harder at their cheer though, as though he could not hide his disapproval at their 'greed'.

For the first time Clubs spoke, his voice grim, "You believe you would die, by the end of this, that is why you are spending everything you have, that is why you did not even express a nominal interest in having a share of Atium."

Vin, who kept some part of her focus on Kelsier this whole time, shifted whole of her attention to him, Kelsier still smiling, shrugged and said, "There is something about Eleventh Metal I haven't worked out, I do not know how to use it to kill Lord Ruler, until I do, this is the only sure method", he said patting the case, "We have a time table, a year, with every day our risk of exposure increases, I would have been a lot more comfortable with six months, but we need to recruit and train thousands for the Skaa Rebellion, and that is going to take time. So a year it is. That is how long I have to figure out what the mystery of Elventh Metal is, if I can not or if we are exposed before then, what is in the case is my only option. And it will most probably kill me."

Vin can not understand how Kelsier can be so flippant about his own death, to be Skaa is to know your life can end at any moment, it is worse for those in the Underworld, but being resigned to your death, and knowing your actions might lead to your death and being unconcerned about that are very different things.

Vin knew Reen would have called it false bravado, but Vin did not see that in Kelsier.

This is a man who is sure of his path, it is not bravado, but conviction I see in his eyes.

Kelsier clapped his hands and asked cheerfully, "So, who is in?"

One by one they all agreed to join in his mad scheme, Ham and Breeze did it solemnly, Yeden and Clubs did it grumblingly, Dockson agreed as though the thought of not supporting Kelsier has never crossed his mind, Marsh locked his gaze with Kelsier, whatever he saw there convinced him and he nodded impassively, and finally Kelsier turned to Vin, with a twinkle of mischief in his eye and a grin on his lips, without knowing why she did what she did, Vin gave her agreement.

Chapter Text

PoV Kelsier

Vin and Kelsier sat on the rooftop's parapet, with their feet dangling over the street below and looked on the mist shrouded streets of Luthadel.

Kelsier could see at the corner of his eyes Vin sneaking wary glances at him.

Taking pity on the poor girl, Kelsier asked conversationally, "How is the pain?"

Vin gave a little start, but muttered her answer, "It's fine."

It is probably not fine, but she does not trust me enough to tell me. No Burning Tin until day after tomorrow then.

Kelsier gave an obvious eye-roll, and said, "Very well. On which metal did we stop?"

Kelsier knew the answer of course, but the point is to engage Vin in a conversation.

Vin once again shot Kelsier a wary look but answered anyway, "You finished explaining Zinc and Brass."

"Ah, Burning Copper hides Allomancy, it creates a zone around you in which any Allomancy performed can not be detected. But the more interesting thing about it is, several Copper Mistings or Mistborn Burning Copper at once can increase the size of the zone in which Allomancy cannot be detected. I can Burn Copper strongly enough, without flaring it, to hide the common room below, but several Copper Mistings working together can make entire buildings invisible to Allomancy, they do not need to positioned strategically to achieve that affect, either. Hence why they are called Smokers, like how a few fires burning in the basement can fill the entire building with smoke, so can Copper Mistings do the same. Now knowing what you do about Copper and Pushing and Pulling of Allomantic metals, can you tell me what Bronze does?"

Vin had a look of interest as Kelsier described Coppers abilities, he can sense she was building up to ask a question, but his own question threw her off a bit and she gained a thoughtful look, after a few moments she answered, a bit uncertainly, "Bronze can detect Allomancy?"

"Correct!", Kelsier said cheerily and gave her an encouraging smile, intelligent girl, and continued, "Burning Bronze allows one to hear Allomantic Pulses, like drum beats, you get a sense of direct direction, if you can not see with your own eyes who is Burning Metals, with a lot of practice you can do more, even identify which metals an Allomancer is Burning. That is why Bronze Mistings are called Seekers. Tin and Pewter, Copper and Bronze are called Internal metals, they affect you".

Vin digested that and said slowly, "Then Zinc and Brass, Iron and Steel, are External, because they affect others."

"Close, very close! You are remarkably intelligent Vin!", Kelsier said with a cheery smile, he could see a pleased flush creeping on her cheeks, and continued, "Zinc and Brass, affect other people, but Iron and Steel affect metals, with them, you can do this", Kelsier took out a boxing from his coin pouch, held out the boxing in his palm in front of him a little above his chest level, Burned Iron and Steel, blue lines sprung from his chest, connecting to every piece of metal around them, but he focused on the one connecting to the coin, he dropped his hand and lightly Pulled on the top of the coin and lightly Pushed on the bottom of the coin, and coin started to flip in place.

Keeping a small part of his focus on coin while Burning Iron and Steel, Kelsier turned towards Vin, and asked with a grin, "Can you guess how I am doing that?"

Vin who was looking wide eyed at the spinning coin with a look of amazement and wonder, narrowed her eyes with concentration and said slowly, "Iron Pulls and Steel Pushes. Their use is external and they affect metal. You are Pulling one end and Pushing the opposite end."

Kelsier said while clapping with a grin on his face, "You got it right, Vin! You are a natural at this!"

Vin gave a pleased smile, but quickly suppressed it.

So wary! Oh, child, what did the world do to you that can not even let yourself smile, can not accept praise.

It is not just her, any Skaa's reaction to possible happiness is disbelief, what I do, I do it for her and for them, Kelsier thought to himself.

"With that Allomancy lessons for the night are done", as a disappointed look flashed across Vin's face at that pronouncement, Kelsier chuckled and said, "You are my apprentice Vin, that does not just mean my apprentice in Allomancy, it means you are going to learn everything I can teach, Allomancy lessons are just one part of it, for now that means learning crewleader things."

Vin looked at him with surprise for a moment, but nodded her agreement.

Kelsier smiled and said, "The most important and relevant detail you need to know about our crew, Ham, Breeze and Clubs are a sort of crewleaders. They train and run specialized crews, Ham trains and leads some two dozen Thugs, I believe, and he will provide muscle if we need it on the field, as we recruit the army for the Rebellion, it will be mostly Ham and his men who will train them and lead them in the field, as captains and generals. Breeze, runs a crew of Soothers and Rioters, he and his men will be doing most of the heavy lifting in recruiting Skaa, the Skaa are too beaten down, maybe one or two in ten thousand will harbour some fire at the injustices Skaa suffers, and wants to resist the Final Empire, but those amount to a few hundred in Luthadel, a city of millions, so we need Breeze and his men to rouse the Skaa, to 'encourage' them as Breeze puts it, to join the rebellion. Clubs runs a crew of Smokers and Tineyes, he will provide a secure location for the crew to stay, that his Smokers will constantly make invisible to Allomancy, and his Tineyes will keep watch to make sure we are not discovered by other means and give advanced warning if we are. They do a few other things, like Ham providing contacts within the Luthadel Garrison, and using his reputation to hire a few Lurchers and Coinshots, Iron and Steel mistings, for the army. Breeze using his various identities as a nobleman to provide an in with the nobility and Clubs hiring non-allomancers with Hazekiller training to guard our location. And so on."

Vin digested that information for a few moments and finally asked, "What do Yeden and your brother do?"

"Yeden is our in with the rebellion, he is a leader of the Skaa Rebellion, he succeeded Marsh some three years ago, I believe. Being the leader of Skaa Rebellion of the Central Dominance, the Lord Ruler's own backyard, gives Yeden a lot of clout with Rebellion in other Dominances, Yeden will mostly be touring the Rebellion in other Dominances with some of our Allomancers. His task will be to convince other leaders of the Rebellion to make a move when news of Lord Ruler's death reaches them. We do not have the resources to train and arm them as we can the army in Central Dominance, but I will make sure they will at least have some help. Marsh is going to be our infiltrator, our inside man in the Steel Ministry. His task is to keep an eye on what the Ministry is up-to and feed us any information he can on the Steel Inquisitors", Kelsier answered.

"And me? What is my part in your 'Grand Plan'? I am not just your apprentice, am I? I am part of the crew too, shouldn't I have something to do, besides learning from you, I mean?", Vin asked quietly.

Kelsier turned to Vin, locked eyes with her and said softly, "Yes, you are part of the crew, but, your training comes first, once you are fully trained as Mistborn, then you can start to shadow me, when I go out to fight. A single Mistborn is powerful beyond your wildest imaginings Vin, two together, who trained to work together, can do remarkable things, things even I cannot fully imagine. Until we get there, your next few months are going to be spent in training. I will probably not survive my fight with Lord Ruler, but I promise you, I am taking that bastard with me when I go. After I am gone though, this crew will need you, I want you to be their protector, their leader", Kelsier flashed Vin a crooked grin, making sure she knew next part is a joke, as he continued, "I know nobody can ever replace me, nobody can match my charm or my wit or my handsome visage, but do try your best, won't you?"

-xxxxxxxxxxx-

PoV Vin

"..but do try your best, won't you?", as Kelsier, flippantly remarked on his death, Vin's chest suddenly felt tight, she has known Kelsier for less than a day, she did not trust him, she did not trust his confidence that he can kill Lord Ruler and she did not trust his plan to destroy the Final Empire, but still, the thought of him dying hurt her.

Vin shook away that hurt feeling, as Reen's disgusted snort at her weakness echoed in my mind.

As Vin broke her gaze from Kelsier's and tried to think of some other question to lead the discussion away from Kelsier dying, Kelsier's voice cut in, uncommonly seriously from him, as he asked, "Vin, where did you get that earring?"

Vin's hand unconsciously went to her left ear lobe, fingering her earring, a simple piece, a small, silver-plated bronze stud, the only thing of any value she has, and said, "Reen, my brother, said that he came home one day and found my mother covered in blood. She'd killed my baby sister. Messily. Me, however, she hadn't touched, except to give me an earring. This earring. That is the day he took me from our mother and ran away. Why do you ask?"

Kelsier did not answer her, instead he extended his hand, palm up, towards Vin, and asked, "Can I see it?"

Suddenly, her distrust of Kelsier flared up from embers to a bonfire, she almost refused him, but before she could, Kelsier said softly, "Trust me. Please."

Her distrust in Kelsier did not abate, her instincts and Reen's voice said not to do it, but Vin looked in to Kelsier's eyes and all she saw there was honesty. So, reluctantly, Vin took it out, and immediately her instincts quietened, her distrust tamped down, Vin looked at the earring in her hands, confused, by her own feelings, then deposited it in Kelsier's palm.

Kelsier examined the earring curiously, he squinted at it, muttered at it being bronze, which she confirmed, and she said that the plating is silver before he asked. He looked at it with obvious confusion and made it float, not like the still flipping coin in-front of him, he just let it float, and finally said, "Interesting."

Vin increasingly baffled at his behaviour finally demanded, "What?"

"Oh", he looked at Vin as though he forgot she was there, he hummed, as his look became more considering, finally he answered, "It is harder to Steel Push or Iron Pull on it than it should be. When someone is wearing metal as piercings, it becomes a lot harder to Push or Pull on them. Wait a moment, this explanation is going to be lot harder than it needs to be without you Burning Iron or Steel."

His fingers went behind his belt and he took out a small metal case and glass vial. He poured some metal powder into the vial, returned the case to it's hiding place, withdrew a flask from his coat poured a clear liquid in to the vial, shook it, extended the vial to Vin and said, "Drink it and Burn it."

Curious Vin took the vial and with a momentary pause downed it, a bitter burning sensation went down her throat, but she knew this burn from wine, just a lot stronger. And Burned the new unfamiliar reserve in her gut. Immediately blue lines sprung up from her chest, Vin could not see where most of the lines ended, but she could see one pointing to the still flipping coin, a cluster of tightly bunched lines going to Kelsier's coin pouch and another far fainter line going to her floating earring.

"The blue lines you are seeing, start at the centre of your chest and connect to every metal in your vicinity, you are Burning Iron, Burning Steel does the same thing, usually thicker the line, bigger the metal source, thinner the line smaller the metal source. Do nothing with the lines. Not yet. See the line connecting to your earring?", Vin nodded in answer and Kelsier took out a gold boxing and a knife and cut off a bit of the gold, almost exactly the size of her earring, and floated it beside the earring, and softly asked, "See the line connecting the cut off bit of gold, and compare it to the line connecting to your earring, what is the difference?

The difference is obvious, it is a small difference but obvious all the same, Vin answered, "The one connecting to the earring is thinner."

Kelsier nodded and said, "That should not be the case, the general rule is, the type of metal does not matter, only how big it is. I have seen something similar to this before, but it does not make sense for you to have it, if it is the same thing."

Something nagged at her when Kelsier said the type of metal not mattering, but she focused on the obvious question for the moment, and asked, "Similar how?"

Kelsier smiled and said, "There is another form of magic in this world besides Allomancy, Vin, it is called Feruchemy. Only few have access to it, you and I definitely don't. In it, instead of Burning Metal, Metal is used as Storage, for example, you store a fifth of your strength for a day, use the stored extra one fifth of your strength on another day, when you have need of it. It is bit more complicated than that, but that is the gist of it. The metals a Feruchemist uses to Store his attributes is called a Metalmind. And a Metalmind holding an attribute is harder to Push or Pull than a normal metal."

Vin slowly nodded, and asked, "And you are sure my earring is not a Metalmind?"

Kelsier shrugged and said, "It is easy enough to check, take your earring into hand, just think about checking upon the power in it, like you would check on your internal reserves."

Vin took hold of her floating earring and did what Kelsier asked and she felt nothing, she concentrated a bit more, still nothing, opening her fist she turned to Kelsier and shook her head.

Kelsier had a look of immense concentration for a moment, then he shrugged and smiled, and floated the earring into his hand. Once again reached behind his belt, took out two small metal cases, Vin still Burning Iron noticed something and understood what nagged at her when he spoke about metal not mattering, Vin started to open her mouth to ask the question, but Kelsier met her eyes intently and slowly turned his gaze behind him, Vin's eyes followed and landed up on silvery metal case Kelsier said contained a weapon that could kill Lord Ruler, lying on the rooftop.

Vin remembered Kelsier telling others what is in the case is a secret, she remembered Breeze saying that he did not recognize what metal the case is made of. Kelsier said he will reveal the secret of the case after 'certain' preparations are complete.

What if, not just what is in it a secret, but what the case is made of is too?

A part of Vin, the distrustful, fearful part insisted she ask the question, she almost gave in, but the look in Kelsier's eyes stopped that part, there is something almost pleading in his eyes, in his expression that said, the only reason he is not begging her not to ask the question is because he believed even doing that much which would reveal a secret he is not even willing to acknowledge exists.

Vin shut her slightly parted lips and relief shone in Kelsier's eyes as he smiled, Kelsier emptied one of the smaller cases in his hands to another, dropped her earring in the now empty small case, shut it's lid and extended it to Vin and said, "This will keep it safe for now. I will look into this mystery when I have the time."

There is a mischievous glint in his eyes that told her, he will make the mystery of her earring a priority, he just did not want to voice that aloud.

Vin once again wondered, they were alone, he answered every question she asked, with as much detail as he can, but something's he refused to even voice. Why?

Because he is insane, you nitwit, Reen's voice answered.

No, he is not, another part of Vin refuted, but even in her own mind that sounded incredibly defensive.

The same part continued, Well, maybe he is, but it is his ideas and plans that are insane, not himself.

Reen's disgusted snort echoed in her head, that argument is spectacularly stupid, even for you, idiot sister.

Vin paused for a moment, perhaps it not just Kelsier who is insane, I am arguing with the voice of my brother, who left me six months ago. Lord Ruler! I feel tired, even with the Pewter Burning in my gut.

Kelsier seemed to sense that last thought, he turned inward

the parapet and said, "Let's go, a comfortable bed awaits you in Club's workshop."

Vin blinked to clear her eyes, but followed after Kelsier.

Kelsier led her through the mist laden streets, wandering the streets, at night, in the mists, is not a new thing for Vin, the Underworld operated heavily during the night and she and her brother had spent plenty of nights in alleyways when they had nowhere else to sleep, but something is different tonight, the mists seemed to swirl around her, drawn to her and she felt energized, not exactly like Burning Pewter, this is something deeper, it felt familiar, but she did not remember feeling like this ever before.

Vin looked towards Kelsier saw the same thing, the mists, they swirled around him too, but they are a bit more subdued around him than they were around Vin.

Vin softly called out, "Kelsier", as he turned towards her, Vin gestured at the mist swirling around her and he smiled, and said just as softly, "They do that, mostly with Allomancers, especially when they are Burning Metals. The Mists are our friend, Vin. Always remember that, they hide us, protect us and some even say they give us power. We are Mistborn, Vin. The Mists are ours, as much as we are its."

Vin nodded and whispered, "I will."

Chapter Text

PoV Vin

Vin followed Kelsier into the meeting room, pushing aside her general unease at the comfortable bed, spacious room, fragrant bathwater, abundant food and easy respect for her and her wishes, her residence in Clubs's workshop brought.

As soon as Kelsier entered the room he exclaimed happily, "Saze!"

Vin, only a step behind Kelsier, entered the room and casually leaned against the wall beside the door-frame, observed as a tall, long limbed man with the build of a scholar and a shaved head, dressed in colourful robes stood up and gave Kelsier a bow and said smilingly in a soft voice, "Master Kelsier, I have come to inform you that Lord Renoux has settled himself and his retinue in Fellise, as per your instructions."

Vin took in this 'Saze's' multiple rings, bracelets and earrings, elongated earlobes, his too long limbs, his colourful, patterned robes and finally grasped, he is a Terrisman Steward.

Kelsier strode towards the Terrisman, clasped his shoulder companionably for a moment, then turned to face the room beside the blackboard at the end of the room. He gave out a round of nods to everyone present, his eyes rested a moment on Vin, he titled head minutely towards one of the empty chairs in the room, but Vin shook her head in answer and he shrugged, and went on with his greetings.

Just as Kelsier was about to open his mouth, Dockson drily cut in, "A head on a spike, Kell, really?"

Kelsier grinned broadly, and said, "The news already got out? I thought it would take until the afternoon, this is barely two hours after dawn. Excellent!"

Vin and she saw, most of the others in the room looked in confusion, except for Marsh and the Terrisman, as Dockson sighed with exasperation and said, "I thought you were going to rob him, not behead him and put his head on a spike upon the gates of his own Keep."

"I did steal from him, and since I was there anyway..", Kelsier trailed off.

As Ham broke in and demanded with half-hearted anger, "Will someone tell me what is going on?"

Kelsier shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Last night, I sneaked into the Venture Keep, emptied Straff Venture's secret vault, killed him in his sleep, sawed off his head and put it upon the spike above his Keep's gate."

Now, everyone stared, Marsh, Dockson and the Terrisman impassively, others with disturbed expressions, Vin did not know how she looked, but she felt a cold shiver crawl down her spine, she knew Kelsier is a dangerous man, after all the very first thing she saw him do is kill Camon, but then Kelsier had been furious, wrathful and even hateful. Now, Kelsier is dispassionate and indifferent to the fact that he killed a man in his sleep, and then took the time to saw off the dead man's head.

Breeze jumped from his chair to his feet, and nearly shouted, "Lord Ruler! Kelsier, why?"

Kelsier calmly rolled up his sleeves, and held up his arms. In the harsh morning light, Kelsier's scars from Pits of Hathsin are hard to look at, long, short, thin and wide, multitudes upon multitudes, criss crossing each other and some almost overlapping each other. Looking at them made something squirm uncomfortably in her stomach.

Once every one got a good look, Kelsier lowered his hands but did not unroll his sleeves, and said in to the quiet room, "House Venture is the one who administers the Pits of Hathsin, everyone there, except for the prisoners are Venture men. That is how House Venture became and remains the most powerful noble family, they are so wealthy because the Lord Ruler pays them handsomely for operating the Pits on his behalf. And I did not just kill Straff for revenge, his death is part of the plan, and it would have been a lot more tougher to kill him later on."

The tension in the room eased noticeably, Vin could see others absorb what Kelsier said, and she could see the moment they individually came to terms with it.

One more shiver crawled down her spine, these are hard men, willing to do hard things, brutal things to fulfil their goals. What in the Lord Ruler's name am I doing here?!

A part of Vin insisted that she bolt from here the first chance she got, but another voice a thought, yes, these are hard men, but they are Strong too. Don't we want that strength for us?

As her internal debate raged, Marsh ground out, grimly, "Elaborate on this plan then?"

Kelsier grinned at his brother and picked up a piece of chalk and started writing on the blackboard.

The Destruction of the Final Empire, the header read.

Kelsier wrote Problems, at one end of the board

and Assets, at the other end.

Below the Assets, he simply wrote the Crew, the Rebellion and the Case. Everyone there knew what the Case meant.

Below the Problems he wrote Lord Ruler, but struck it out and said, "I promised I would take care of this and I will. So what are our other problems?"

Breeze settled more comfortably in his high backed chair and said lazily, "Are you sure about the Rebellion being an Asset?"

Yeden bristled in his chair and made as to get up, red faced and seemingly angry enough to throttle Breeze, Kelsier settled down Yeden with a softly voiced, "Yeden, you are working with thieves and scoundrels if you cannot take a jab, I wonder at your usefulness as a diplomat."

Yeden grew pale faced, but Marsh's face grew more stony. Kelsier gave Yeden an encouraging, almost paternal smile and said, "Yeden, you are part of this crew, while we may tease each other, we will never ever work at cross purposes or betray each other", and he turned to Breeze and said with surprising sternness from him, "Breeze, while I understand your scepticism, the Rebellion is vital for our plans and the members of Rebellion humbles us all with their bravery and sacrifice."

Breeze almost seemed to pout, but he nodded his head, if not in agreement with Kelsier's words, then in acknowledgement that Kelsier is the crewleader and he had the right to chastise Breeze when his comments got out of hand.

Kelsier once again focused on the group as a whole and asked, "What is our second biggest problem?"

This time it is Ham who answered, "The Luthadel Garrison, if you really do expect Rebellion to gain control of all of the Final Empire, then, every Garrison stationed outside of every city in the Empire."

Kelsier wrote Garrison below the struck out Lord Ruler and said, "Our main focus will be Luthadel Garrison, but we will workshop something for other garrisons too. Luthadel Garrison is twenty thousand strong, from what Ham tells me they are very well trained and armed. So how are we going to deal with them?"

Once again Ham answered, "Even if we recruit enough for the Rebellion to match the Garrison's numbers, it would not be an even fight. Just teaching raw recruits to march in formation will take months, then there is weapons training, my men won't be enough to serve as officers for the whole army, so we need to choose officers from the recruits and teach them strategy and tactics. The best method to deal with Garrison is to distract it, draw it away."

Kelsier hummed, considering what was said, and asked Ham, "Can you teach the recruits to march with speed and hold a fortified position, engage only defensively, in say, six months?"

Ham thought it over before answering, "That is doable, that is very doable."

Kelsier nodded and said, "We will have a portion of our army seize the Pits of Hathsin, that will force Lord Ruler to send the entirety of the Garrison, the rest can take the city walls, especially if they had inside help and hold them. What is our next biggest problem?"

This time it was Breeze who answered, "The nobility. Even if you kill Lord Ruler and draw away the Garrison, there will be thousands of soldiers inside Luthadel, serving as house guards, many noblemen Mistings and perhaps even a few Mistborn."

Kelsier nodded in agreement, "This is where I explain the other reason why I killed Straff Venture, there is a way to weaken and then force the nobility from the city. A House War."

Everyone except for Vin, started a little in their chairs, Kelsier apparently saw confusion in her face, because he started to explain, "The Noble politics are difficult to easily explain, Vin", at Kelsier saying her name, the other occupants of the room gave another little start, apparently they forgot she was present, "but they are constantly making moves, making and betraying alliances, to keep what they have and to grasp for more. Every century or so, all this politicking boils over and so breaks out a House War, where nobility send Mistborn and Mistings as assassins against each other, House Wars is how Mistborn got most of their fearful reputation. There is even an unspoken rule, not to send their Mistborn against each other even when two noble houses are feuding. But a House War is different from a regular feud. Every noble house in the city will get drawn in, the only way to escape a House War is to withdraw from the city entirely. And Straff Venture's death is the first spark that will ignite a House War."

Except for Yeden and Vin, everyone else nodded with thoughtful looks at Kelsier's words.

After a few moments, Breeze spoke, "We will need someone on the inside, to keep up-to date on how the nobility are feeling, reacting and thinking in the prelude to the House War."

Kelsier nodded in agreement and said, "I had hoped you would take that role Breeze, after you grew confident enough to pass on your recruiting duties to your apprentices."

Breeze shook his head, and sounding genuinely apologetic said, "Not possible, I am afraid, I have several identities, it would be rather unfortunate if one recognized me by one name and another recognized by another."

Kelsier thought for a moment, "No need to attend balls or parties Breeze, make some house calls, be discreet. And get me the names of a few reliable informants, a relative newcomer who wants to be neutral can be seen asking questions to keep himself informed, without it being too suspicious, 'Lord Renoux' and his Terrisman Steward can handle it."

Kelsier put a weird emphasis on 'Lord Renoux', as he looked to the Terrisman when he spoke those last words.

The Terrisman nodded and said, "I will pass on your instructions, Master Kelsier."

Vin grew confused, why would any lord take instructions from Kelsier. When Vin caught his eyes Kelsier saw the question, he gave a nod, indicating him noticing her question, but did not explain further.

"What else?", Kelsier asked the room in general.

This time it is Marsh who answered, "The Steel Ministry."

Kelsier nodded seriously and wrote down Steel Ministry beneath nobility.

"Getting Marsh in, is the problem, Obligator training usually takes years and only final part is done in Luthadel. Once he got in, I am confident he will do what he needs to. So any ideas?" Kelsier asked the room in general.

The silence lasted for what felt a long time, finally, surprising even herself, it is Vin who broke it.

"I have an idea", Vin said.

All other occupants turned to her, looked at her intently, that made Vin uncomfortable, but Kelsier nodded at Vin encouragingly, so she took a breath and said, looking straight at Kelsier, "Camon, my previous crewleader, the one you killed. He was working with another crewleader, Theron, he discovered that alongside their Acolytes, the Ministry also secretly moves large amounts of funds through the canal boats with the Acolytes. Theron pulled an elaborate scheme to steal those funds, costing thousands of boxings and six years, the plan is to get a contract from Steel Ministry to ship their Acolytes, and rob those canal boats. But he needed someone to play a nobleman, he reluctantly came to Camon. With Camon's death that plan probably fell through. But Theron has a corrupt Obligator in his pocket. If you can get Theron to put you contact with that Obligator, you can probably forge records for Marsh to get in."

Kelsier smiled widely, Vin almost thought she can see pride in his eyes, but Reen's scoff in the back of her mind killed that thought.

Kelsier turned to Marsh, and asked, "How about it brother?"

Marsh gave Vin a long look before nodding, and said, "It will do."

"What else? What are our other problems?", Kelsier asked, once again giving the whole room an urging look.

Ham answered, "Less problems, more details Kell. Weapons, how are we going to source them."

" 'Lord Renoux' will buy them in bulk, our efforts to arm the Rebellion in other Dominances will probably sell the lie that he is doing brisk business, as his cover story says", Kelsier answered promptly, once again putting an odd emphasis on the name.

"My men, who I will have to use to train the army we recruit, will be men who worked for nobility and Lord Ruler in the past. They made bargains they regretted, now they want to do better. Will that be a problem?", Ham asked.

Kelsier pinned Yeden down with his eyes and said, more to Yeden than to Ham, "It will not be. Veterans are the key to any successful army, they bring tradition, experience and give men they fight alongside much needed confidence."

Yeden deflated.

Breeze was next to voice a problem, "Luthadel is too well monitored, recruitment here would be a risky affair."

"Start with Luthadel, after a few weeks of training send off your best to start recruiting in surrounding cities and towns. And start looking for more Skaa Mistings to recruit to our cause too. This is for all of you, keep an eye out for any Misting. I know, what crews you have gathered are done after going through a thorough vetting process, but we are going to need more manpower. If we cannot get it here, then reach out to your contacts in other Dominances through the Underground. I know doing so is a security concern. But only Soothers and Rioters need to have some idea of the fraction of the whole plan. The remainder can be just gathered nearby and cool their heels for a bit. I doubt there is a Skaa out there who says no to free food with pay and no work", Kelsier said seriously.

The crew gave unhappy nods.

"What else?", Kelsier asked.

Nobody answered.

Kelsier sighed, folded his hands and leaned against the back wall, between two closed clear glass windows, light and shadows played strangely across his figure.

After a long moment of silence, Kelsier said solemnly, "Gentlemen, Mistress Vin, I have to apologise, I have run roughshod over this meeting. I have been impatient and too demanding. Dockson, Ham, Breeze, Sazed and even Marsh, I believe will agree, this is not how I regularly do things," the five people Kelsier named gave nods, and Kelsier continued, with an intensity in his voice and passion in his eyes, "but I have a reason for my imaptience. Those who gathered here, are the best hope Skaa have. The best hope of salvation, of justice and even Vengeance. I see you, I see your doubts, it is understandable. When you are in a nightmare, it does not feel like it will ever end, and this nightmare of an empire lasted for a thousand years, so of course you can not believe it can end. But even the worst of nightmares end, when we wake", Kelsier walked around the room, looked every person in the room in the eyes for the moment, even the gangly teenage boy who sat besides Clubs, silent until this moment, and said softly, "my friends, you are the dawn that will wake this world from this nightmare of ash. If you can not believe yourself capable, believe in my belief of you."

And Kelsier left the room.

Chapter Text

PoV Vin

A distinctly uncomfortable silence descended on the room as Kelsier left, a part of Vin wanted to go after Kelsier, she is his apprentice after all, but she is a part of the crew too, and her instincts told her witnessing whatever happens next is important.

All of the rooms occupants exchanged looks, except for Vin, these men have so much history with each other, from what Vin gathered, only Clubs and Yeden are relative newcomers to this group, excluding the two actual newcomers like Vin and the gangly boy.

But even then, Yeden had apparently been right hand man to Marsh for more than a decade, when Marsh had led the Skaa Rebellion of Central Dominance. And Clubs is well known to others by reputation, worked with Ham a few times and an acquaintance of Dockson.

It was Breeze who broke the silence when he said with obvious frustration, "What more does he want?! We are doing everything he asks! This is his maddest scheme yet! Still, we are here, aren't we?! What more does he want?!"

Marsh vacated his chair and strode towards the blackboard and ran his fingers lightly over the struck out Lord Ruler, careful not to smudge the chalk, and said softly, "Conviction", as that word rippled out into the room, Marsh continued, "He does not just want our Cooperation, he wants our Conviction. Ham, Breeze, Dockson, and even Master Clubs, you know of my history with Rebellion, and you know my not so veiled disdain for thieving crews, I admit, I considered you selfish and greedy, but not now, not anymore. You are, all of you, good people, you proved that when you took on this 'job'. When you took up this fight", Marsh turned to Ham and asked, "Hammond, as the warrior, the fighter of this crew, what do you think the most important thing a fighter needs, beyond training, weapons, skill and luck?"

Ham seems to understand what Marsh was getting at as he answered, "The confidence in your victory, if you cannot imagine winning, you lost the fight already."

Marsh nodded at that answer and said, "If we can not imagine winning, we lost the fight already. And that is the thing about us that seems to frustrate Kelsier. I know my brother, he is not one to say he can do something when he can not. Kelsier says he can kill the Lord Ruler, it is time we believed it."

And Marsh returned to his seat. Another silence descended on the room, but this one was thoughtful. One by one they seem to straighten in their seats, their obvious resolve shone through their postures.

Vin did not share their conviction but their resolve and their faith, pulled at her, to join in, to become truly a part of them.

Vin thought the group will break up then, go on with their tasks, but Dockson strode to the blackboard with a sheaf of papers in hand. And started talking about expenditures and logistics. And Vin quietly slipped out of the room, in search of Kelsier.

-xxxxxx-

Vin found Kelsier on the workshop's roof, staring at Kredik Shaw.

As Vin drew near him, Kelsier spoke, "So, what do you think? Were Marsh's words compelling?"

Surprised and feeling a little bit betrayed, Vin asked, "Did you two plan that?"

Kelsier chuckled as he answered, "No, Vin. Planning it would have defeated the purpose. It had to be genuine. I just know my people well. That is the first lesson in leadership, Vin. Know the people you want to lead, their wants, their needs, their strengths, their weaknesses, their hopes and their dreams. Meet their needs, reinforce their strengths, cover their weaknesses, help them achieve their dreams and harness their hopes and wants toward the shared purpose of the crew. That is how a good leader operates."

Vin thought that over, she is still not convinced this was not a con, and asked, "How did you know it was Marsh that spoke up?"

Kelsier shrugged and answered, "Ham, Breeze and Clubs only one of these would have expressed some opinion after I left, Yeden would not have, he still defers to Marsh too much to speak before he has better idea of what Marsh is thinking. While Docks has no problem in opposing me when he feels like I need it, this is about the fundamental feasibility of the plan, everybody there knows Docks is with me on that, Docks does not really believe I can kill Lord Ruler, but he would back me anyway, he trusts me that much, that is same reason why Docks could not speak up in my defence either, Docks speaking for me does not have the required impact. And that leaves Marsh, my brother might not like me and the things I do all that much, but he knows me, he knows when I am bluffing and he knows when I am not. Of all the people in that room, it is only Marsh that actually believes me when I say I can kill the Lord Ruler. So he felt compelled to speak on my behalf."

Vin did not know what to think of Kelsier's relationship with Marsh, it was so very different from anything she has ever known.

As Vin joined Kelsier's side, he nodded at Kredik Shaw. And said softly, "I can slaughter my way in there to him, Vin, I can kill him", Vin knew what him, Kelsier meant, "I would be done in an hour. But killing him will not achieve what I actually want, that creature crafted this empire well, it can continue to run for decades more on sheer momentum, it would eventually die without an 'immortal' 'god' at its head, but it will take too many years and too many dead Skaa."

Vin still felt a little dizzy whenever Kelsier talked about killing Lord Ruler. So she asked about the House War.

"What happens now that Straff Venture is dead?", Vin asked.

Kelsier had a little smile as he said, "For a few days, confusion, a great deal of confusion."

-xxxxxx-

PoV Elend

Confused, disbelieving and a touch panicked, that is how Elend, now, Lord Venutre felt after learning what happened last night.

It was night like any other, Elend read some questionably seditious writings of philosophers past, drank wine and discussed said writings with his friends. Returned home and went to sleep.

Only to wake at the early hours of dawn due to pounding of his door by the Steward of their House, Elend had opened the door, with an uncharacteristically vehement curse on his lips to find their panicked Terrisman Steward and a dozen of their allomancer house guards and the Captain of the House Guard, with unsheathed weapons, incredibly on edge.

A touch frightened and a lot confused Elend asked what the matter was.

That question directly led to here, Elend sitting in his father's solar, waiting for the healer of the House Venture to tell Elend how exactly Straff Venture was killed.

Their Terrisman Steward, my Terrisman Steward, I suppose, Kwenik, stood beside Elend, apparently he regained his calm after the earlier panic, Elend envied Kwenik his composure. The Steward had tried to offer some documents for his review, since Elend was, as of the minute of his father's death, Lord Venture, Head of House Venture, but Elend is too distracted to contemplate doing anything remotely like work.

His father had threatened to to disinherit Elend as heir plenty of times, but apparently he never got around to actually doing it. As of his father's last will Elend inherited everything.

Elend continued to feel overwhelmed by the position he was thrust in, Elend hated his father, and he is sure the sentiment is, was, returned, but he did not want his father dead. Elend thought he would have decades before he needed to lead his House.

As Elend was about to descend into a proper panic, there was a knock at the door, Kwenik immediately went to the door, opened it a fraction, spoke with whoever was at the door, returned to Elend's side and said with a bow, "It is the House healer Watham, my Lord. Do you want me to send him in?"

Elend was nearly about to snap at Kwenik for wasting time, instead of just ushering Watham in, but he followed Kwenik's eyes to the mirror set up discreetly in the solars right wall, something for the sitting lord to check up on their appearance before entertaining guests.

Elend took a quick look and even for him, he looked something of a mess. A quick hand through his curly hair to make sure it looked just un-styled instead of what it actually is, his bed-hair. And a moment of straightening his clothes, Elend nodded to Kwenik.

Kwenik ushering in Watham. And Elend quickly came to the point, "Please, report your findings."

Watham bowed deep and said, "Lord Straff was restrained before his killing, we can see that from the bruises on his wrists, ankles and mouth. The actual killing wounds are the two puncture wounds to his chest, one directly over his heart, and another in his right lung, Lord Straff died with in less than a minute after his killer delivered the wounds. I have found small, very small, chips of glass in Lord Straff's wounds, they match the glass daggers often employed by Mistborn. Lord Straff was beheaded after he was dead, from my examination, his body was turned over and his head was adjusted, then severed from his body in a single stroke, from behind. That sort of arm strength indicates someone Burning Pewter. I believe we found the short-sword used to behead Lord Straff's body, it was discarded under his bed."

Bile and gorge rose in Elend's throat at the healer's monotone explanation and threatened to spew everything he ever ate or drank on his father's desk, but Elend suppressed it.

Not trusting to risk opening his mouth, Elend nodded his understanding to the healer. And Kwenik ushered the man out.

As Elend continued to wrestle with his upset stomach and unsettled feelings, Kwenik returned to his side and deposited a full goblet of wine in front of him.

Once Elend is sure his stomach will not rebel, he downed the wine and slumped in to his father's chair.

"Should I make the arrangements for the funeral, my lord?", Kwenik asked softly.

"Have the Obligators recorded my father's death?", Elend asked, feeling incredibly weary.

"They did, my lord", Kwenik answered promptly.

"Then fine, make arrangements for a traditional cremation. And then send the ashes to family estates in Urteau. Is there something that can not wait?", Elend asked hoping the answer would be no, but he is not so fortunate.

"Several things, my lord. But three are rather more urgent. First, I expect a visit to from the High Prelan of Canton of Finance of the Steel Ministry, very soon", Kwenik answered.

Elend cursed aloud, and said, "To discuss the contract to administer the Pits. When was it renewed?"

"Only a month ago, my lord", Kwenik answered swiftly.

Elend cursed some more and asked, "Is there some provision to get out of it, with my father's death?"

"No, my lord. We have the contract for next two years. If my lord breaks the contract, the penalties will beggar the House, we will be in the danger of losing even our holdings in the Northern Dominance", Kwenik answered sombrely.

Elend muttered, "Fine, what else?"

"The Kandra, TenSoon is waiting for an audience with you, my lord. It's contract passed to you with your father's death. He awaits your instruction", Kwenik answered.

A shiver of discomfort travelled down Elend's spine at those words. He knew the creature, but he had tried his best to stay clear of it. The Kandra are the reason why the nobility cremated their dead, in fires hot enough to reduce bones to dust.

Elend drew himself up and said, "I will speak with the creature tonight. What else?"

"You need to deal with the Allomancers of the House, my lord. You need to establish your authority over them, and that starts with giving out punishments. They have failed in stopping your father's murder. And there is something your father kept from you, my lord. It is about the Mistborn of the House", Kwenik looked distinctly uncomfortable saying the last sentence.

Elend raised his eyebrow at the normally unflappable terrisman's discomfort and asked, "What is it?"

"The House's Mistborn is named Zane, and he is your late lord father's illegitimate son from a mistress", Kwenik answered in a rush.

A stunned Elend whispered softly, "I have a brother?!"

Kwenik who still looked uncomfortable said, "I would caution you to deal carefully with Zane, my lord, Lord Straff had not been kind to him growing up, since his Snapping, Zane has become even more unstable."

Elend has known his father was a monster for a long time, he had not been a good father to Elend, but it seems Straff had been an even worse father to this Zane.

"Where is this Zane then?", Elend asked.

"Your father has sent him on a mission, my lord, I do not know the details, but Zane was sent to deal with some problem in Urteau. However, he should return by the end of the week", Kwenik answered promptly.

Elend mulled that over and asked "Do we have any idea who actually killed my father?"

"House Venture, under your father's leadership, has been the greatest noble house in the Empire for two decades, my lord. That has made our House many enemies, powerful ones. Any one of the remaining nine Great Houses might have sent the assassin, my lord. And make no mistake, whoever did this is an assassin first and Mistborn second", Kwenik answered grimly.

A little disturbed, Elend asked, "What do you mean?"

"While every Mistborn have the same abilities, not all Mistborn are equal, my lord, who ever did this, they bypassed three hundred guardsmen, several Allomancers among them, got past multiple checkpoints, overcame many security measures, and somehow sneaked upon your father, a Tineye, who Burned Tin even when he was sleeping. Killed him, robbed him and carried his severed head from your father's room to the our Keep's very gates. This was not done by an ordinary Mistborn, my lord, everything did requires decades of training as an assassin. My lord, someone created a very dangerous weapon in your father's killer. This not a Mistborn who is used as an assassin. This an assassin who is a Mistborn", Kwenik said grimly.

And a shiver of terror crawled down Elend's spine.

Chapter Text

PoV Kelsier

Kelsier observed the Mists from the Workshop's rooftop, he was always fascinated by them, even before he Snapped, but becoming an allomancer made them all the more enticing, walking through the Mists while Burning metals felt like coming home, like hearing Mare's laugh, like sharing a bottle of wine between friends, like celebrating a successful job.

But it is the Mists reaction to Vin that is on his mind at the moment, there is something special about that girl, they reacted so strongly to Vin, with a palpable eagerness, with what he suspected the Mists to be, their reaction to her bodes well for his future plans.

Kelsier heard footsteps on the stairs with his Tin enhanced senses, he knows that tread, Docks, and waited.

In a few moments Docks joined Kelsier's side and said, "Not going out tonight?"

"I will, I was waiting for you", Kelsier answered.

"Tomorrow, our work will start in earnest. You pushed too hard, too fast, Kell. They might have backed out, they still might", Docks said quietly.

"They would not have. You and they themselves, give them too little credit, they are good men, all of them, so are you. Even with this world pushing them to be monsters, they still chose to be decent men, I do not have words to describe how incredible that is. I have my reasons for why I want them to truly own the reasons for why we are doing this. Intent is important", Kelsier asserted with confidence.

Docks exhaled heavily and asked, "What is your agenda for tonight then?"

"I am going to scout. See if other Great House's will increase their obvious defences. I have no doubt they already increased the number of allomancer and hazekiller guards. But how visible their heightened security is, will tell me something", Kelsier answered

Docks hummed in thought and asked, "Why did you kill Straff so soon, Kell? He was too high profile, his death would make other Great Houses too paranoid, yes, that paranoia might benefit our plan to start a House War, but it might just as well backfire. Even you can not fight a Mistborn, more than dozen Mistings and a small army at once."

Kelsier flashed Docks a smirk, when Docks just rolled his eyes in exasperation, Kelsier's smirk turned into a smile as he answered, "At least some of the other Great Houses must know how House Venture became so powerful, Straff's heir is an untested young man, and apparently does not have his father's ruthless streak, I want to see which Great House will move against Venture fastest. Or whether House Venture will fall due to internal strife."

Docks sighed, and said, "Just Breeze and his men, will not be enough for recruitment efforts, and Yeden is not charismatic enough to inspire the people."

"I know, for the next two weeks Breeze's job is to plant rumours about Survivor of Hathsin and the Eleventh Metal in Skaa gathering places. And prime them towards recruitment. I will deliver the recruitment pitch for the first few months, Yeden will follow after me. A few months of following me around, hopefully some of my charisma will rub off on Yeden and he will be ready to perform his actual function", Kelsier finished with a crooked grin.

Docks gave a dry look and asked, "What will you be doing these two weeks then?"

"A week to seriously train Vin in Iron and Steel, then another week to visit the Arguois caverns and come back to Luthadel, there are a few hundred rebel Skaa already making use of them. Whatever their circumstances, however they got to the caverns, they still rebelled, some among them will become part of the spine of the army we are making, I would like to visit them", Kelsier said.

Docks nodded and said, "I will reach out to my contacts in the area, arrange for a drop off of some foodstuffs by the time you arrive, perhaps that would get you a warmer welcome."

Kelsier chuckled and said, "Thanks Docks. Is there anything else?"

"Will you lead another planning session tomorrow, before you go with Vin?", Docks asked quietly.

"No, Docks. There is nothing crucial that needs to be discussed. Tomorrow will be discussing minutiae and getting to work. No doubt by the time I return we will have new problems that need to be solved, but next two weeks are mostly preparation. You all need to work out how to function as a crew without me. I have made my hopes clear, even after I am gone, I want this crew to work together. And that starts by holding planning sessions without me", Kelsier answered just as quietly.

"You ask for too much, Kell", Docks said with suppressed emotion.

And I will ask for more, Docks, far more, Kelsier thought with a smile and said, "I have faith that this crew will deliver."

"Is there anything else?", Docks asked, obviously unwilling to engage on the other topic.

"I want the most accurate portrait of the Lord Ruler you can find", Kelsier replied.

Docks gave a start and asked, "What?! Why?"

"Just a thought I had while talking with Vin. There should be one somewhere, it has been awhile since I last saw the bastard, I remember you telling me having an encounter with him recently", Kelsier answered with a shrug.

Docks took a moment, struggling with asking what thought Kelsier had, but he knows Kelsier too well, he knows when Kelsier is being evasive for the sake of drama and when Kelsier is being close-mouthed to keep something close to his chest. And finally said, "I will look for it, some overly religious noble should have commissioned or bought one. But it will probably take some time."

"You have six months, if can not find one by then, we will have to steal one from Canton of Orthodoxy, I am sure they have a few", Kelsier answered with an easy shrug.

Docks gave a look questioning Kelsier's sanity, but those are common enough from Docks.

Docks sighed, gave a nod and went downstairs.

Kelsier reached down into the rucksack at his feet took out his mistcloak, donned it and flew off into the mists.

-xxxxxxxx-

Returned from his scouting mission, still in his mistcloak, Kelsier knocked at Vin's door. With his Tin enhanced ears he could hear her wake and come alert at the first knock, Vin padded near silently towards the door, stopped a few feet away from it, and asked quietly, "Who is it?"

Kelsier answered in a conversational tone, "It's me, Vin, see to your necessities, pack two spare sets of clothing and join me in the kitchen."

And Kelsier strode away.

In less than ten minutes Vin appeared in the kitchen, Kelsier with a new baywrap in his hand gestured Vin towards a plate with three baywraps in front of an empty seat.

Vin took the invitation and started eating at Kelsier's insistence.

Finishing his third wrap, Kelsier dusted off his hands and said to Vin, "We are going on something of a training trip for a week. We will continue your general instruction on all basic eight allomantic metals, but the focus would on Iron and Steel."

Vin nodded her understanding, but continued to eat, Kelsier saw her slip a wrap into her trousers pocket, gave her a smile, and called for one of the kitchen workers to get Vin another wrap.

She eyed in the new wrap speculatively, no doubt debating whether or not to squirrel it away. But she decided to eat it, she clearly developed the skill all street Skaa children seemed to inevitably develop, eat however much they can and squirrel some away for later. That is not something Kelsier ever had to learn, Kelsier and his brother grew the first ten years of their lives as nobility, minor nobility but nobility all the same. Even when their mother's ruse was finally discovered, their mother prepared for that inevitability, Marsh and Kelsier had enough money to survive for years, and by the time that money ran out they found their own ways to earn a living.

Hah, earn a living, Kelsier you lived better than nine tenths of nobility, and you couldn't match that last one tenth because you could not openly spend your money.

It was actually the Pits of Hathsin that introduced Kelsier to starvation, it had not been a pleasant acquaintance.

As Vin finished her plate, Kelsier reached into his bag, took out the mistcloak he ordered to be made for her size. And said, "Wear this and let's go".

Vin tentatively reached out to her mistcloak and asked softly, "You are just giving me this? Don't I have to earn it?"

Kelsier chuckled, and answered, "What is there to earn Vin, you are Mistborn, you are Mistborn with or without the cloak, the cloak just helps to hide you better in the mists, and warns any guardsmen that see us to stay clear of our way."

Even with what he said, Kelsier knew getting and wearing a mistcloak for the first time will always be a little special. Kelsier just wanted to reinforce the fact that Vin can have things, be given things, without having to earn them.

Vin donned the mistcloak with an eagerness that she tried hard to not show.

Kelsier smiled, hung his rucksack on his right shoulder, took hold of the case's handle and led the way out.

The dawn is still an hour away and the Mists still shrouded the streets, Kelsier gave Vin a vial already mixed with basic eight allomantic metals, and gave her another small aluminium case, much like the one Kelsier gave her to keep her earring yesterday, filled with metal dust and said conversationally, "Only allomantic metals appear as reserves when we ingest them, so ingesting an unknown metal is dangerous, if it is not what you thought it was, you have just poisoned yourself, that is why you only ingest metals prepared by a trusted metallurgist, you can find them in any city. Another reason to have a trusted metallurgist is, allomantic metals need to be pure. Even the alloys need to be of precise percentages, you can Burn impure metals, they will be less efficient than pure metals or do not produce any effect, and they will make you sick, anywhere between a bad headache to needing bed-rest for a week. So only Burn metals from a trusted source. With me so far?"

Vin nodded in understanding. Kelsier held her eyes, made sure to emphasis certain words and said, "Usually, an Allomancer carries their metals in glass vials like this", Kelsier gestured to a mixed vial in his hand and continued, "That carries a risk of another allomancer Pulling or Pushing on the metal in the glass. Unfortunately, that is a risk we must take", Kelsier's eyes went to the small case in Vin's hand, and said, "our enemies Pushing and Pulling on the metals we carry is a risk, to minimize that risk, most allomancers do not carry, any metal on them, except, for the vials", Kelsier finished his explanation, with his eyes still locked on the small aluminum case in Vin's hand.

Vin locked her eyes with his, slipped the small case into a hidden pocket sewn in her waistband and nodded.

Clever girl!

"I will continue to supply your metals of course, but I will also introduce to the metallurgist I use in Luthadel. Do not overly worry about getting bad metals, metallurgists who make impure metals or imprecise alloys do not survive in the business. You should get in the habit of mixing your own vials, though", Kelsier spoke while walking, Vin beside him.

"What are the higher metals?", Vin asked, her voice curiously monotone.

"The two widely known higher metals are Gold and Atium. Their use is difficult to explain. Burning Gold lets you experience, as my own mentor put it, 'who you could have been in the past, had you made different choices', it is an unpleasant experience. And Gold is paired with Atium, that is what mined in the Pits of Hathsin. Burning Atium lets you see a few seconds into to the future and enhances your mind so that you can process all that additional information. While Burning Atium, a Mistborn is an unparalleled killer, and the only sure way to negate Atium's advantage in an enemy is to Burn Atium ourself, then the fight comes down to skill", Kelsier answered, hopeful that Vin caught his emphasis on few words.

"Shouldn't Gold be paired with an alloy of it?", Vin asked, still in that curious monotone.

"That would be logical, would it not? But it is not true. It has been common knowledge for centuries that Gold and Atium are paired and the higher metals are only accessible to Mistborn, which means there are no Mistings for Gold and Atium", Kelsier answered, imitating the same monotone she used.

Vin turned to Kelsier, caught his eye and held it, Kelsier read acknowledgement in her eyes.

Did you though? She has the mask of inscrutability down pat.

"If there are only ten allomantic metals, where did your Eleventh Metal come from?", Vin asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.

Kelsier chuckled, clever, clever girl, answered with a smile, "Perhaps the Lord Ruler tried to bury the secret of Eleventh Metal and I just stumbled on it. The stories and legends I heard are very definitive about it being able to kill the Lord Ruler. So, Lord Ruler has every incentive to keep it a secret."

"So is it real? What does it do?", Vin asked, still curious and a bit hopeful, huh, was the hopeful bit a farce or truth? I can not tell.

"If you mean by real, is it an Allomantically viable metal? Yes, it is, you can Burn it. As for what it does? I do not know, not truly, I have an inkling, I used it on Straff Venture before I killed him, Burning the Eleventh Metal does something. I haven't puzzled out what yet", Kelsier answered truthfully.

Vin did not ask any other questions.

As they neared the city walls, Kelsier crouched down and said, "Climb on my back, we need to get up the wall."

Long seconds passed, Kelsier was about to straighten and turn to Vin, obviously Kelsier misjudged something, but before he could, Vin slight weight settled on his back and her hands circled his neck.

Kelsier dropped a coin, flared Steel and Pushed against the coin, in a few seconds they crested the wall, Kelsier Pulled on the iron embedded in the walls lightly and landed. As soon as he touched down, Vin scrambled down from his back.

Kelsier turned to her and raised an eyebrow, but she did not say anything.

So once again Kelsier started the converstion with, "Are you Burning Steel and Iron?"

Vin just nodded.

Kelsier looked outside the city, dropped a small bar of metal, gestured Vin over and said, "See the line connecting to that metal bar?"

Once again she nodded, and Kelsier continued, "Burn Pewter, it enhances your sense of balance. Jump down and Push on the bar straight down to float."

"What if I fall?", Vin asked, with a faint tremor in her voice.

"I will catch you", Kelsier said confidently.

Vin looked at him for a long moment, looked down. And jumped, Kelsier looked down after her in wonder and thought, I had to be pushed.

Chapter Text

PoV Vin

Vin flew. Kelsier calls it controlled falling, but it is hard to be objective when shooting through the air.

It has been a week of training and travel. And they flew most of the way to their destination.

Soaring through the air gave Vin a sense of freedom she never thought she would experience. It is a sensation Vin craved her whole life, but did not know what she was longing for.

After explaining the basics of Steel Pushing and Iron Pulling, Kelsier had her practising continuously. Most of what she did is Steel Pushing, of course, with not enough stationary metal around to Iron Pull on, but Vin did get some practice in Iron Pulling. Kelsier might be willing to waste boxings to Steel Push himself off, but Vin has been too poor for too long to ever dismiss the value of money, so Vin gathered every coin they dropped behind them with Iron Pulling, as she can.

Vin had thought she mastered Pushing and Pulling by the second day, but Kelsier quickly disabused her of that notion, he simply Pulled against the coin Vin was using as the anchor, for a moment Vin thought she was going to crash in to ash laden earth, but Kelsier Pulled on the metal belt he insisted she wear and stopped her, it took her a moment to remember to drop a coin to gain a new anchor, he reiterated that what Vin is learning is the very basics of Iron Pulling and Steel Pushing.

As the sun began to rise, Kelsier and Vin dropped back down to the ground. And Kelsier quickly had a small fire going, they would be eating trail rations but taking ten minutes would let them boil some water, and they would have hot tea to go with unappetizing rations.

Less than ten days ago you would have thanked the Lord Ruler for having something to eat, Reen's sneering voice cut in, how quickly you change, little sister.

Am I changing too fast? Am I trusting too much?

As Vin was about to get bogged down in an internal debate.

Kelsier started speaking, "Intent is important", by his serious tone, it was going to be another small lecture.

Kelsier gave those, interspersed between practical lessons. They are always fascinating.

Vin focused as Kelsier repeated, "Intent is important. Take Copper, when you Burn Copper, the size of the coppercloud does not just depend on with what intensity you are Burning Copper. Yes, you can not cross your maximum volume, but you have some measure of control over the shape and size of your coppercloud. This phenomenon is more blatant in Emotional allomancy, how does a Soother or Rioter, Sooth or Riot a specific emotion? It is not like we can know with accuracy what our target is feeling, so how does Emotional Allomancy precisely target specific emotions? Because the Allomancer wills it. Even Burning Metals is us willing it to happen. Do you understand what I mean?"

Vin nodded. Kelsier repeated his flipping coin trick again and asked, "How many lines connecting to the coin?"

Vin knew there is some trick to the answer, but said anyway, "One."

"But how am I a flipping the coin with Push and Pull if there is only one line I can Push or Pull upon?", Kelsier asked with a smile.

Vin focused on the coin, Intent is important, willing to see more connecting lines. And after a few moments of concentration Vin could see two more lines connecting to the coin, alongside the one connecting to the centre of it.

Kelsier seemed to read her discovery in her posture and clapped in praise and said, "You got it! Seeing more connecting lines is going to be useful in doing some advanced manoeuvres. But it takes concentration, it is not that useful when you still learning basics, but we will practice this more as you advance in your training."

"Does this apply to Burning all other metals?", Vin asked.

Kelsier shrugged, "Probably", he stared at Vin for a moment, and continued, "I have been an allomancer for two years Vin, I knew of how allomantic powers work for far longer, having a precise understanding of how to best utilize my crew's talents is how I have been successful, that knowledge helped me when I became an allomancer myself, but I am not so prideful to say I know all there is to know about allomancy. Breeze, Ham, Clubs and my brother Marsh are masters of their metals. But I can confidently say I am one of the best in Steel Pushing and Iron Pulling, especially in how to use those both together."

Kelsier's easy admittance of weakness, even if it just a small weakness surprised Vin, in the Underworld, showing weakness always invites attack or exploitation.

He really does live up to his promise, he trusts his crew, Vin thought.

Immediately Reen's voice cut in, trust, hah, don't stupid, he has his secrets.

Secrets he feels he has to keep, secrets he promised to reveal when time is right!, Vin argued back.

Keep telling yourself that, it is just another con, Reen declared with disgust at her naivety.

That internal debate did draw Vin's mind back to the things Kelsier said without saying a week before, Kelsier hinted about knowing some secret about 'higher metals', his evasiveness regarding the small metal cases he gave her, which do not have connecting allomantic lines when Burning Steel or Iron, is another mystery.

Vin had tried to broach their topic in a round about manner, but Kelsier always side-stepped her attempts.

A part of Vin still urged her to corner him about the secrets he is keeping, Vin's increasing trust in Kelsier only emboldened that part of her, the more Vin felt like Kelsier would not hurt her or kick her out of the crew for just asking questions, the more the distrustful part of Vin insisted that she corner Kelsier, force him to make a gesture to demonstrate his trustworthiness, to demonstrate the worth of his word.

But for some reason Vin felt doing that would damage something precious. Kelsier might answer or he might not, but putting him in that position would make Vin a person she did not want to be. Not anymore.

So Vin did not push.

-xxxxxxx-

After another two days of travel they neared their destination. And they had a surprise waiting for them.

Kelsier said they are to rendezvous with a few of Dockson's contacts with the Underground in the area and pick up supplies to gift the rebellion hiding in Arguois Caverns, but when they got to the meeting place they had Hammond and two others, probably Hammond's men, waiting for them.

Kelsier rushed towards Hammond with a happy exclamation of "Ham!"

And Vin hung back to observe as two men spoke.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here before us?", Kelsier asked with a grin.

Hammond gave Vin a wave in greeting and focused on Kelsier, and answered, "Docks told us where you were going and during the meeting we decided that I might as well come to caverns and see what I have to work with. If I can, I want to have at least a squad of fifty already learning by the time the first batch of recruits reach us here. As for how I got here before you, well, two of my men and I Pewterdragged our way here. They needed more practise in it."

Vin made note of this 'Pewterdragging' but kept her peace for now.

"Well, lead the way then", Kelsier commanded, without it feeling like a command.

Hammond gestured to his men. One took the point and one took the rear of their group.

Kelsier and Hammond continued to chat.

Hammond's men led them through a winding trail through a dense stand of birch, Kelsier told Vin that the round-about passage through the forest is so that they not wear a trail into the underbrush.

After a half an hour of trekking through the forest, Hammond's men came forward and cleared away some false underbrush and revealed a crack in the ground. It was dark within, the sides jutting with crystalline granite. It wasn't a regular hillside cavern, but instead a simple rend in the ground leading directly down.

Vin saw Kelsier subtly tense as soon as he saw the crack, apparently so did Hammond, just as Vin drew near Kelsier to ask what the matter was, Hammond drew near the other side of Kelsier and asked softly, "What is it, Kell?"

Kelsier shook his head, forced a grin on his face, and descended down into the crack.

Vin followed a moment behind Kelsier. The climb down was difficult, more difficult than she was expecting while Burning Pewter, but it ended soon enough. They came to a larger cave, where a young man in Skaa work clothes stood nervously, Ham gave the boy a signal and the boy rushed away.

"Hell of an entryway you've got there, Ham," Kelsier said, his grin looking a little less forced.

Ham quipped. "You should see the bathroom.", seeming a bit relieved to have Kelsier behave as jovial as always.

"Have you had the time to map out the caverns", Kelsier asked Ham.

"Mostly, I found another two entrances to this system of caves, and I mapped out most of this system, the Skaa hiding here are a huge help in that endeavour", Hammond answered as he led them to a huge cavern with a couple of hundred of Skaa, trying hard to pretend they are working but Vin could see their obvious attention on the their group as they came through the entrance.

As they entered the cavern Kelsier stopped, took a deep breath and rolled up his sleeves, making sure his scars are visible. Kelsier gestured for Vin, Hammond and his men to walk a step behind him and strode towards the gathering of few elderly Skaa.

As they drew closer, Kelsier hesitated a moment as the two groups drew near, but he did not miss a step as he exclaimed cheerfully, "Mennis, this is where you ended up?"

An old Skaa man puckered his face sourly and said, "Survivor, where else would we go, after you killed Lord Tresting."

That name tugged at Vin, she remembered hearing some rebel Skaa killing their platation Lord, nearly two weeks ago now.

Kelsier laughed, and said, "And I plan to kill a lot more nobles, Mennis. Your people are well? Did all survive the journey?"

Mennis softened a little at the obvious care in Kelsier's voice as he asked about his people's wellbeing and answered, "Yes, they survived. We were running short on food, but Master Hammond came in time with supplies so that none of us had to starve, he tells me we have you to thank for getting us those supplies."

"No need for any thanks, Mennis. But I would like a chance to speak with everyone here after the evening meal", Kelsier said with a smile.

Mennis's expression hardened, but he nodded his assent.

Kelsier gave the group of elderly Skaa another cheerful grin and turned to Hammond and asked to be shown the caverns in full.

-xxxxxx-

After a brief tour they returned to the huge cavern. And Kelsier drew Ham aside and said quietly, "Have your men spar while Burning Pewter. Tell them to put on a show."

Ham nodded and went to talk to his men.

As Kelsier looked around, one of the Skaa youths, about Vin's age, that having been following around their group neared and asked Kelsier eagerly with a deep bow, "Need something, milord?"

Kelsier smiled wide and asked, "What is your name, young man?"

"Eettim, milord", the youth answered.

"Can you tell us where we can find some chairs, young Eettim?", Kelsier asked.

"I will fetch some, milord", Eettim, answered and zipped away, calling for some of the other Skaa youths to follow him.

Vin looked at Kelsier with a raised brow and wondered whether he used Emotional allomancy to influence the boy.

Kelsier seemed to read Vin's doubt, he chuckled and said, "There was no need to for that, and I do not have Breeze's subtle touch anyway. The boy is just eager, the stories Ham decided to spread about me probably helped."

Vin nodded and asked quietly, "Why did you hesitate? At the entrance."

Vin could see Kelsier suppress a wince, and he said, "Noticed that, did you", he sighed wearily and said with a wry smile on his lips, "That is how the Pits of Hathsin look. A rend on the ground, dark and cramped, while there are some open spaces in the Pits, nothing even a quarter the size of the cavern, the biggest open space in the Pits I have ever seen is the size of a modest room", Kelsier ran his fingers over the scars of his other hand and said, "there are holes in the walls, somehow grown with crystal. To find an Atium geode, one needs to put in their hand in the hole, and feel with their fingers for it, to reach through with torn, bleeding arms, stretching, seeking the atium geode hidden within. One geode, that bought one more week of life. Life beneath the taskmasters' lashes. Life beneath the rule of a sadistic god. Life beneath the sun gone red."

Kelsier fell silent, and his fingers continued to run on his scars, he looked so far away. Vin felt a bit ashamed for asking and reminding Kelsier of no doubt the worst year of his life.

Kelsier shook himself and took in the cavern around him, and said quietly, "That is why I do this Vin, I do not want another person to suffer as I did, beyond the starvation, the beatings and the lashings, it was Mare's death that haunts me most. You see, a year in the Pits, one week I did not find a geode, if you don't find a geode in a week, you are dead, the taskmasters kill you, not with some knife to the heart or noose to the neck, no, they beat you, they lash you, they kick you, until you are dead. Mare came to me and convinced me to take her geode, told me she had another, told me she found two that week", Kelsier slowly shook his head and chuckle, that chuckle sounded hollow, without any substance, Vin could feel the sadness weighing him down and said, "She lied so well. I took her geode, when the time came to give it to the taskmasters, I gave it to them, Mare was behind me in the line. When her time came, she did not have any to give. They beat her to death. And I watched, held down by other guards, who laughed at my efforts to go to her."

Vin cursed herself for asking the question, but before she could apologize, Kelsier continued with conviction in his voice and a smile on his lips, "My story is not unique, Vin. I am sure there are some Skaa out there who are suffering worse as we are speaking. That is why I am going to destroy the Final Empire."

Vin stared at Kelsier, marvelled at his strength of will, his conviction and confidence, and for the first time thought, perhaps he will do it, if anyone can, it is Kelsier.

Chapter Text

PoV Vin

"You should watch this carefully", Kelsier as he seated himself in a roughly made chair, the boy, Eettim, did not bring another, Vin remained standing right to Kelsier, Vin was barely taller Kelsier sitting, and Kelsier continued speaking, "One does not really understand the phrase 'moved with grace' until you witness a Pewterarm fight. I know you have Pewter on a low burn near constantly, as I instructed, but this is going to be something to remember."

Ham returned with two of his men carrying quarterstaffs, and carved out a rough circle on the uneven floor, and returned to stand to Kelsier's left. As Ham was carving the circle, the Skaa in the cavern continued to gather, the young among the Skaa jostled for a position near Kelsier, but still kept a respectful distance of two yards.

Ham's men are cut from the same cloth as Hammond, uncommonly tall for Skaa, then again they are noble blooded, with muscular frames, thighs the size of Vin's head, arms thick as her legs, which they showed off alongside their barrel chests and broad shoulders by the virtue of being shirtless, Vin is not exactly embarrassed by her staring, she was told to observe after all, even so, she has never been secure enough in her personal safety to notice the handsomeness of a man, before Vin could introspect, Kelsier nodded and Ham ordered his men to begin.

They moved and any thought about their shirtless torsos flew away from her mind as she began to understand what Kelsier meant. The men, flowed, for lack of a better word, they closed distance like the moving wind, they never looked down to take care of their steps on the slightly uneven ground, from the lifted heel to their quarterstaffs crashing down on each others they moved with certainty and purpose, there was no wasted movement, no floundering, as though they have done those exact movements in that exact spot for a thousand times. So slowly so that it is noticeable to everyone watching, they started to speed up, their quarterstaffs clashed more and more and the 'ra-tat-tat' rhythm of clashing polished wood they established in the beginning became a sort of drum beats that are reaching a crescendo, just as Vin anticipated the ending, Ham whistled and threw something towards the men. The men stepped back from each other smoothly and without looking they threw away their quarterstaffs and caught what Ham threw, and Vin saw what Ham threw to his men, swords, blunted swords to be specific and a bit of metal.

The men quickly swallowed the metal and once again drew together, the clangs of metal on metal replaced the clacks of wood on wood, and the men once again sped up noticeably, just as Vin started to understand the rhythm of the fight, one of the men sped up a little more, mid swing, Vin thought he would land a hit on the other man, yet, the other man too sped up to match the first man exactly. And it went in that way, fluid movements which suddenly gained extra speed for an instant, which the other man matched, then they sped up more than they ever had before, they were moving so fast that Vin could not follow them with her eyes, the clangs started to join together in one long ear piercing sound. Then abruptly the two men stopped, with their blunted blades at each others throats, sweat ran rivulets down their whole body and cheers and applause broke out.

Those cheers shocked Vin out of her own reverie, that was the first time Vin heard Skaa cheer, oh the thieving crews celebrated, but an undercurrent of fear and greed run below it all, but now, all she heard is genuine admiration, awe and even exuberance.

Kelsier stood from his chair and walked towards them and the two men disengaged to stand facing Kelsier, he put his hands on their shoulders and said in a voice loud enough that everyone could hear, "That was phenomenal, simply fantastic. I have always known that men Ham chooses are supremely skilled, but men, seeing it with my own eyes is something else. You have amply demonstrated the strength of your arm and sharpness of your wit. Well done!"

Then Kelsier stood between them, took hold of their wrists and rose them up with his hands and renewed cheers broke out from the Skaa. Kelsier said nothing further and strode towards Vin, she fell in step beside him, and Ham stepped up on Kelsier's other side and the gathered Skaa mobbed towards Ham's men even though many eyes still followed Kelsier, the undeniable momentum carried the Skaa to Ham's men.

Ham chuckled softly and said, "Good thing the lads back there are not married."

Kelsier joined the chuckle, but turned his head to Vin and said, "So did you see?"

Vin dismissed her attempts of deciphering what exactly that is so humorous about Ham's men not being married and focused on Kelsier's question, she believed she understood what the question was, and answered, "They kept their Pewter on a low burn for most of that and suddenly flared it to gain an advantage mid fight."

Kelsier smiled and spoke while nodding, "Exactly, Pewter burns fast, fastest of eight basic metals, and if you flare it you will burn a vial's worth in a minute. Swallowing metal mid fight is always a risky affair, and there is always the chance that the enemy will have Iron Pulling or Steel Pushing to take away your back up vials. So it is best to fight as though the all the metal reserves you will have for a fight are what you already had in your gut before the fight began. So developed the tactic of flaring your Pewter at the right instant. One needs training to time the flares right and to learn better control of that instant of increased strength and speed."

Vin slowly nodded as she digested that and asked, "What is Pewterdragging?"

"That is another skill one can learn, you flare your Pewter continuously, but it is dangerous. Even when we are burning Pewter some of the body's energy gets used up, continued burning of Pewter will let us push far past our body's limits, but it does not magically erase accumulated fatigue. If you misjudged your reserves and you ran out of Pewter in the middle of exceeding your body's limits, all that fatigue will crash down on you and that has outright killed many Pewterarms. So it is a careful balancing act. Learning it will need experienced supervision, I will teach it you later", Kelsier said seriously.

Vin nodded, considering and asked, "So when Ham said his men needed more practise in Pewterdragging, they flared their Pewter continuously while getting here."

Kelsier chuckled softly and said, "They got here by flaring their Pewter continuously, they ran here, Vin, from Luthadel."

Vin stopped walking, Ham and Kelsier walked some more before turning towards her and Vin asked in her flattest voice, "What?"

Kelsier gave Vin a half smirk and turned towards Ham and said, "Want to answer this one?"

Ham smiled and said to Vin, "Kell speaks true, Vin. My men and I ran from outside Luthadel's city walls to here. While Pewterdragging you can outlast and outrun a horse. We had to take a day's rest after getting here, but that is far better than the week of bed rest I needed when I first started learning. And it took us only two days to get here."

"But that is hundreds of miles!", Vin blurted out before she could stop herself.

Ham shrugged easily and said simply, "Yes, it is."

It is that easy shrug that finally convinced Vin. Vin could literally fly, but allomancy still continued to amaze her. Ham and Kelsier turned and continued to walk and Vin caught up to them.

"So, what else? Any other thoughts after watching that bout?", Kelsier asked conversationally.

Vin considered for a moment before answering a little uncertainly, "I need to learn how to use weapons."

Kelsier once again chuckled and said, "Yes, you do. I will teach you how to fight with glass daggers, but for everything else Ham will do the teaching."

Ham nodded at Kelsier's words and said, "I will. Kell is quite good with those daggers, as he should be, he has been using them for decades. When we have the time, we will start with quarterstaffs and go from there."

Ham and Kelsier finally stopped and Ham nodded towards what seemed to be a curtained door way and said to Kelsier, "You will have as much as privacy you can get here. I will send one of my men to call you in an hour, the supper should be ready by then."

Kelsier nodded in answer and drew aside to curtain to enter what seemed to be freshly carved out cave, Ham turned around to walk away and Vin followed behind Kelsier to find him stretched out on a chair much like the one Eettim brought for him, as Vin entered Kelsier gestured to another chair opposite his, beside a cot and Vin took the seat.

"Tell me, why did I ask Ham to make his men put on a show?", Kelsier asked quietly.

Vin thought about the question, the first answer that came to her mind felt like the wrong one, but nothing else made as much as sense as the first one, so Vin answered with a question, "To intimidate the Skaa?"

Kelsier gave a small crooked smile and asked, "Were they intimidated then?"

Vin thought back to the cheers at the end of the spar, and shook her head.

And Kelsier asked again, "So why?"

"To inspire the Skaa?", Vin once again answered with a question.

Kelsier's smile widened, and he said, "Close, Ham and his men have been here for a few days. Knowing Ham and the kind of people he chooses, they probably made fast friends with the Skaa here, shared their fire, their food and their stories. So they see Ham and his men and think, 'one of us'. They cheered and hollered because they saw their own display skill and excellence. And that is important, it is vital to plant the seed of idea in their minds that if one of their own can be skilled and excellent then they can be too, that they can be more than what the nobles and the system and the Lord Ruler told them they are all their lives. The Skaa do not know what allomancy is. To them it is stuff of myths and legends, they know it only as the magic of their oppressors. So even after they learn that Ham and his men are allomancers, the more prominent thought in their heads would be that they have magic of myths on their side too."

"But that idea is based on incomplete information. You yourself said that to be allomancer one needs noble blood", Vin whispered.

Kelsier snorted softly, and answered, "My noble blood did not stop the fear whispering in the back of my head that one misstep and I would be dead, Vin. My mother's blood did not make me Skaa, Vin and the blood of bastard who sired me did not make me noble. I am Skaa, because like every Skaa, the world Lord Ruler created denies me the right to live, it demands my death for reasons that make no sense, that have never made sense."

A heavy silence descended on the room after Kelsier's words, something Kelsier said resonated with Vin, an anger she never acknowledged battered at her. Demanded that she feel it, that she rage at the unfairness of the world, but Vin pushed it aside, a part of her recoiled at even the thought of raging at the world, at trying to change it.

Kelsier shook his head and smiled softly as he spoke, "Let us get back to what is the actual point of this conversation. Yes, inspiring the Skaa is part of it, but it not the all of it, it also about respect. Ham and his men are the ones who will lead our army in the field, so showing off their abilities gets them some admiration and respect. And the Skaa saw me giving orders, the obvious deference in their postures, then there are stories Ham spread. All of it, in turn cultivates their respect for me. We want them to believe in us, that we will protect them and lead them well."

Vin thought on Kelsier's answer as Reen cackled in her head, see the con, he lays it out for you, you make the mark believe you, then you rob them of everything, even their life.

Vin pushed Reen's voice aside, even so, the thought did not leave her, Vin felt something squeeze her heart and even while fearing Kelsier's reaction, Vin spoke, "The more you explain, more it sounds like a con."

Kelsier chuckled and locked gazes with Vin and said, "It is almost a con, Vin, just one difference. In a con I take something, now, I am trying to give something. A chance at freedom. Yes, taking that chance will lead to a lot of dead Skaa, but we are dying anyway, Vin, this world will ground us down eventually, as it has uncounted millions before us for the last thousand years. Why not take the chance to live and die by our own will, free?"

Vin held Kelsier's hazel eyes with her own and thought, why not?