Part 3

Chapter 31

Meet Master Philen: Wealthy merchant, respected member of the Luthadel Assembly, former master peddler of illegal goods, and, most importantly, orchestrator of the first deposition in Luthadel's short history. He is, regrettably, still looked down on by the nobles, but he himself does not, and never did, see himself as skaa like the noblemen do. In fact, he looks down on the skaa workers and thinks that they need to be put in their place. He's already coming across as a bit of a traitor, to be honest.

Philen is currently attending an Assembly gathering, for which he has dark and self serving schemes. The treacherous fiend seems to have hidden someone in the audience. What's his game?

All of the assemblymen are present, save the one who called this assembly meeting in the first place: Elend Venture. Apparently the Assembly's unanimous vote against their former king wasn't quite so unanimous as their letter made it seem; many of the assemblymen retained some doubts on the matter, Penrod being one of them, and we all know how popular he is.

Elend is late in arriving, so Philen rises to begin the meeting. Just as he stretches out his pudgy little legs, Elend marches through the doors, the very epitome of the word majestic. The Crew is with him, including the Terrismen and Oreseur.

The Assemblymen are quite taken aback by how much he's changed since the last time they saw him. What? He hasn't even once appeared before the Assembly since Tyndwyl's arrival? No wonder they deposed him. What was he thinking? He formed the assembly, but he didn't even bother to treat them with their due respect.

The new, commanding, dare I say kingly, Elend quickly gets them to set up Penrod as Assembly chancellor, the one who will be overseeing the Assembly meetings until they raise a new king. A little surprising, considering that he has no way of knowing that Penrod was on his side during the meeting that saw him deposed.

Penrod, with his newfound authority, formally opens the meeting and allows Elend to have the first say. Elend proceeds to relate to the Assembly the events that took place during his informal parley with Straff. He leaves out the part where he nearly fouled himself with fear, but that's perfectly understandable.

He does tell assembly about his threat to Straff. He now knows about Vin's discomfort at being the "knife held to Straff's throat", but she gave him permission to use her in his speech, so use her he does. He tells the people that Vin is one true heir of the Survivor and the "most powerful mistborn alive". He says that Straff will never attack the city with Vin at his throat, and, what's worse, he actually seems to believe the words he's saying, which is odd, because if he knows his father at all he should know that Straff's first move will be an attempt to rid himself of Vins and he knows that Vin currently has no way of defending herself against enemy Mistborn besides, perhaps, Duralumin. Does he not understand how deadly Atium is? If he does, surely he he should be trying to keep Vin in hiding instead of flaunting her as some sort of demigod..

Speaking of Vin, she is sitting in her usual spot with Ham. She feels uncomfortable with the way Elend is building her and Kesier up, as she should. She, at least, must know just how vulnerable she is right now.

To make things worse, Zane in the audience. Straff's allomancer, allowed to openly and shamelessly attend their assembly meeting. Utilizing Atium, he could assassinate every single member of the Assembly right now, crumbling the entire city's government in one fell swoop, and no one would be able to stop him. Err, well, perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, but he could cause some serious damage nonetheless.

Vin notices that Elend's speech is practically over. She missed practically the whole thing; she'd been too busy locking eyes with the mad bastard and thinking about her last chat with Sazed. She now seems to be convinced that she isn't the Hero, which, according to "The Thirteen Rules of Generic Fantasy", makes it all the more likely that she is. Although Sanderson has spat in the face of clichés before, so I suppose those rules don't really apply his books anyway.

Elend finishes speaking without once attempting to defend his right to be king. One of the Skaa bring this up, and he replies that the assembly is "too noble a body for such things". Tindwyl and Elend apparently had rehearsed a defense, but he opted to ignore her tutoring this time. It was probably the right move. His attitude in this gives a better argument for his reinstatement than any words could have, and, well, not even Tindwyl can be right all the time; she's not perfect, although she comes pretty damnation close.

Once Penrod returns to the stand, Elend suggests that they hold the nominations for the new king right now, so each Assemblyman nominates a person of their choosing. Unsurprisingly, Penrod is the first to be nominated, and he in turn nominates Elend. He didn't have much choice, after all. Elend nominated Penrod for chancellor, so he is honorably obligated to return the favor.

Philen, rather dramatically, rises to give his nomination, and his dastardly plans are finally manifested. The king apparently does not have to be a member of the Assembly, so Philen has chosen to nominate... Ashweather Cett? As soon as the announcement is made, one of the "skaa" in the crowd removes his hood and, what do ya' know, it's none other than Cett himself. What madness is this? It's ridiculous enough that Philen actually had the nerve to nominate an enemy, but this? Why would Cett take such an insane risk?

End of chapter 32

Apparently religion wasn't even Kwaam's forte. He was actually a studier of nature. Pretty pretentious of him to be making such a big deal out of Alendi, then, wasn't it?

Chapter 32

"What the hell have you done with my daughter!", are the first words that leave Cett's lips... Oh wait, no they aren't, because nobody gives a flying rats chull about Allrianne, not even her own father.

It turns out that Cett is a cripple, which makes his presence here doubly risky. He didn't come alone, though. No, he's much too smart for that. He brught around thirty trusty guardsmen with him, and you can bet that they're his very best. He's still taking a huge risk, though. Even Elend's rabble may be able to take Cett's men with...say, three hundred troops? Err, make that four hundred--just to be safe. Sounds perfectly reasonable, plus he's got nothing to lose! Elend should call in his men right now and put an end to the great Ashweather Cett.

Penrod the Fair allows the crippled(and potentially mental) king to address the assembly. It becomes apparent that Cett is indeed a quite honest man. Without the slightest bit of sugarcoating, he tells the assembly exactly why they should coronate him; He has a huge army, and he isn't Straff. Oh, and there's a gargantuan koloss army marching on the city. Apparently Elend forgot to mention that little detail to the assembly. Well, that little bit of secrecy just cost some significant damage to his chances of being re-elected.

All in all, Cett makes a rather compelling point. He's also brutally honest, and has an air of...awesomeness about him. If he weren't such a tyrant he would almost be worth considering.

When Elend finally asks him what's to stop them from siezing him right here, Cett replies that if he does not return to his camp safely tonight, his army will stage a suicidal attack on the city. Really? Is he sure his men are loyal enough to sacrifice themselves to Straff's army like that? He might be bluffing. Elend should still consider having him assassinated if this election thing goes south.

Cett goes on to promise to hand all of the Assemblymen titles if he wins. That's probably what convinced that power hungry little whore Philen to back him. In addition, if he is elected, Cett promises that he will return the city to the way it was during the Lord Ruler's time. His only request is that he be allowed to move into the city before the elections with five thousand of his troops to more easily bribe the good people of the city. Five thousand? Why, that's enough to take Luthadel entirely from the inside! Way, way too many. He surely knows this, though.

Philen supports the idea, of course, saying that a monarch inside the city is less dangerous than one outside. That may be so, but not when said monarch has five thousand troops with him! Five thousand? The Assembly would have to be stark raving mad to even consider such a thing. Thankfully, they're only a bit wonky, so they agree to permit Cett to enter city with one thousand fully trained troops.

Elend is incredulous at this absurd situation. When he confronts Penrod about the absurdity of this debacle,, Penrod shoots him down. He tells Elend that the "Give me liberty or give me death" mentality is honorable, but it's unrealistic for Elend to expect others to follow his idealsto their graves. When the choice comes down to temporary security and slavery, or liberty and certain death, he says slavery wins. With that he walks off. This doesn't look good for Elend and folks.

Vin shows up, now, making the claim that Cett is definitely Mistborn. Elend, of course, doesn't believe her. Nor do I, but who knows? It would be pretty cool if he were; this series could use a few more Mistborn characters, to be honest.

The chapter ends as Cett's son approaches them, requesting that Elend meet with his father to discuss his sisters kidnapping, and Elend agrees to have dinner with the new contender for the throne.

End Of Chapter 32

The discovery of Alendi saw Kwaam greatly elevated among the Worldbringers. Humph, good for him.

Chapter 33

Vin is locked up in her chanbers with Oreseur, studying the logbook again. The Hero Of Ages is just about as generic as they come. He supposed to have hidden royal bloodlines, and humble origins. That could mean anything. The prophecy was make over 1000 years ago; for all we know the skaa today could have been the royalty back then. What would the prophesies mean then?

She complains to Oreseur about not being able to understand the Terris religion. Why make prophecies that could be interpreted to mean practically anything? Oreseur says they're not truly fortelling the future, but may simply be an expressions of hope during troubling or oppressive times.

The kandra have prophesies too, apparently. They claim that one day all of mankind will perish from death-by-koloss. Sazed says that the Koloss and his people have much in common, but he stops himself before he can go into much detail about it. He doesn't seem to be very comfortable speaking about these things, and the only reason he even told Vin at all is because she pressured him into talking. Well, Vin is content with what he's told her, so she finally stops asking questions.

Once she's done chatting with Oreseur, Vin leaves her studies to continue her investigative hunt for the kandra spy. About time. She should have found him by now.

Elend PoV.

There is sickness in the city. A malady seemingly brought on by malicious intent. Someone has poisoned one of the cities wells, Several skaa are showing symptoms, and a few have already died. Who did it? Elend thinks Cett has the most to gain from a sick populace, but this feels like Zane's work to me. He may have done it in a fit of mad rage, or perhaps at his father's behest. It hardly makes a difference.

Back to Vin. She and Oreseur are out searching for Dockson. Of all the crew members, I find him to be the most unlikely suspect. Isn't he just a bit too deeply involved in the going ons around here for a kandra to be able convincingly take his place? The kandra couldn't have arrived at the city until Straff did, so unless he's invisible it's doubtful that he could have gotten enough information to impersonate Dockson in such a short amount of time.

They find Dox in the library, and Vin asks him about the conversation conversation they had about his past; something that only the two of them could know about--unless, of course, the Kandra possessed a cloaking device. Well, Dox answers Vin's question satisfactorily, so he most likely isn't the impostor.

Dox misunderstands the intent of her question, though, assuming that Elend is the cause for it, so they end up discussing his views on the nobility at length. It is revealed through their discourse that Kelsier's dreams of toppling the final emperor weren't new to him. He'd always had them, but the Pits of Hathsin were what gave him the incentive to actually make them into a reality. Well, that makes me respect him I wee bit more than I used to. Don't get me wrong, he was still a reprehensible, vicious, hateful man, completely deserving of death, but he just he wasn't quite so selfish as I had assumed. Plus he changed, so that was good.

ANYway, Dockson has changed. Similarly to Marsh, the joy he once had is gone. He is torn by guilt for the things he had to do to bring this new government, and for the feelings of satisfaction he has for doing them. Guilt? Could that be what's up with Marsh as well? DOes he feel guilty for whatever heinous deeds he was forced to do to become a Steel Inquisitor? That possibly be the mystery behind his change in behavior... Could those deeds also be the mystery behind the Inquisitor's mad bloodlust? Only time will tell...or will it? Some authors seem take pleasure in leaving questions like these unanswered.

Anyway, Vin walks out of that room convinced that Dockson is not the imposter, but Oreseur warns her that his people are very skilled, and their masters sometimes use...means...to get as much information from their victims as possible before consumption. Vin is really starting to hate this. She doesn't at all enjoy having to distrust her friends.

Vin is starting to feel down at the thought that one of her friends is most likely resting in a kandra's stomach right now. But then, through the window, she spots a suspicious figure walking in a suspiciously suspicious manner. She sneaks out to get a closer look and finds that it's Demoux returning to the palace...suspiciously. It now dawns on her that Demoux is the perfect person for a kandra to replace. The thought that it was Demoux who was tortured, murdered, and made into longpig pie fills her with delight! How can she be so sure he's the impostor? For all she knows, Demoux may have been coming back from a secret meeting with some anonymous lover. He's young and apparently quite good looking, so it wouldn't be at all surprising if that were the case. Vin definitely shouldn't be jumping to conclusions just yet. Hopefully she doesn't do anything...drastic.

End of Chapter 33

Kwaam thought himself to be the Announcer, and he was now accepted be everyone. Renouncing Alendi would be renouncing himself, so he could not bring himself to do it. I guess that's understandable.