The Well Of Ascension Chapters 4-5
Entry posted by Child Bahkbar
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I'm two chapters further into my readthrough of Mistborn book 2. Moving along nicely, eh?
Part 1
Chapter 4
Yay! Sazed gets to be a PoV character in this book!
Now that the Lord Ruler has been removed, Sazed has traveled south to complete his solemn duty as a keeper. It seems like he's been sidetracked, though, because as the chapter begins he's busy investigating the death of some skaa farmer named Jed. Eyewitnesses testimonies claim that there was mist during the day, and when it enveloped Jed, he just flopped over and did a little dance in the dirt. Sazed is deeply troubled by the idea of the mists appearing before dark. I'm guessing this phenomenon and Vin's encounter with the mist-specter are related. This can't be the deepness, can it? These events don't seem to match the descriptions given of it in the first book. It has to be something else, and I'd be willing to bet that it's all tied to the Lord Ruler's... absence.
Later that night, Sazed buries Jed. As the villagers watch him curiously, he even gives the man a proper ceremony. They must think he's completely insane. He tries to share some obscure religion with them, but these skaa don't seem very interested. Everything seems to have been thrown into chaos since the Lord ruler's death. Without the Lord Rulers men, lawlessness has taken over. During his travels, Sazed has witnessed death and destruction even worse than anything the Skaa's previous owners had caused. I guess Killing "god" didn't magically make the world a better place. In fact, some of these skaa seem to actually miss the Lord Ruler. Seeing what they're going through, I can't really blame them.
End Of Chapter 4
The post-chapter journal entry has Kwaam confessing to his betrayal of Alendi. When and how...? I guess I'll just have to wait and read more.
Chapter 5
This chapter begins with Vin walking through the market. She's been burning pewter to speed up the healing of the wounds she received in her bout with the assassins the other night. Wow, so pewter can quicken the healing of wounds too? Dang, Pewter is starting to seem like the most useful of all the metals. If I were in this world, I'd totally wanna be a Pewter-arm.
Anyway, Vin is being followed by a tall, dark stranger. Could this be that Watcher creep? Has he finally decided to make his move during the day? Naw, it's just some skaa believer in Survivorism. Apparently, after Kelsier's death, the skaa in the city made him into some sort of god. They refer to Vin as the "lady-heir", whatever the heck that means. Do they see her as some kind of saint? They seem to believe she can somehow stop the massive army camped outside their walls all on her own. Haha! Some lady even asks Vin to bless her baby. Vin reluctantly obliges, and then quickly makes her way into some side alley. After fighting off a panic attack, Vin continues on to meet up with some Dog merchant. She buys a vicious wolfhound from the man, and abruptly kills it. Oh boy, I think I know where this is headed.
Vin walks back to her chambers and brings the dog to Oreseur, who is still pretty messed up from all the wounds he took from those assassins. She tosses the dog in front of him and, despite his protests, she commands him to consume it. This, this is outrageous! First, she forces him to live in a maimed body for days, and now she wants him to turn into a DOG? I understand how she can be a bit disgusted with him after what he did with Kelsier's body, but come on! He was only following orders. What did she expect him to do? Break the contract? Feegh!
As Vin prepares to leave the room, she finds a package on her desk. It's from some dude named Terion. He has apparently working on an alloy for Vin, and he's included the results of his work in the package. With this bit of news, Vin heads off to find Elend in his chambers.
Vin enters the room to find him conversing with Dockson, of all people. The two of them don't seem to get along very well--not so surprising considering Dockson's hatred of noblemen. Once they finish talking, and Dockson leaves to room, Vin tells Elend about the wolfhound, and her plans for Oreseur. Elend actually likes the idea, and he also agrees that this will make the kandra a better spy. That may be so, but he doesn't seem to understand just how...degraded this must make Oreseur feel. I'm sure Vin gets it. Yeah, she knows what she's doing.
Elend wants the kandra to go with Vin on all her nightly rounds from now on, he understands that she needs to be out there watching over him, but he also feels that she needs someone to have her back as well. Vin doesn't like the idea, of course, and Elend doesn't understand why she hates Oreseur so much. I don't get it either. Vin enlightens him, once again mentioning that it ate Kelsier, and how "the creature is unnatural". Wow, Vin! Racist much? In the end, she reluctantly agrees to take him with her, and they drop the subject. Sheesh.
As they relax together, they start talking about the Survivor. I guess Vin must have forgotten about the package she received, which, if I recall correctly, was supposed to be the whole reason for this visit. Elend wants to know why Vin fell in love with him instead of Kelsier.
...
Seriously, dude? That has got to be one of the stupidest... Kelsier was , like, 20 years older than her! More than old enough to be her father. Elend, however, isn't satisfied with this perfectly rational explanation, so Vin shares with him some of Kelsier's...less endearing traits. He killed without hesitation or remorse, and his hatred of the nobility was to the point where he didn't even seem to think of them as humans at all. In fact, he actually seemed to enjoy slaughtering nobles. It's a good thing he changed a little, because those are the exact reasons I hated him at first as well.
Ham enters the room to find Vin sitting in Elends lap--I guess he doesn't understand the concept of knocking before you enter. Vin finally remembers why she came to this bloody room in the first place, and tells Elend about the package she received. This Terion guy has been working on creating/discovering the alloy of aluminum, which he calls duralumin. Vin burns the metal, and, unsurprisingly, nothing happens. She should probably try using some other metal at the same time. If Aluminum instantly burns up all the other metals you have in your stomach, perhaps duralumin will cause them to burn more slowly. Maybe burning it will give her the ability to squeeze even more power out of her metals when she flares them. I hope I don't have to wait too long to find out for sure what this new metal does.
After the rather disappointing results on the duralumin test, Ham and Vin go out for a sparring session.
End of Chapter 5
I must say, it kinda surprises me how Vin can seem so humble around her friends, and yet act so bossy around Oreseur. I guess it's because she doesn't think of him as a real person. I'm really looking forward to the day when Oreseur either gets his revenge, or somehow earns Vin's respect.
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