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"I shall try to re for her to enter

Vin hopped spryly through the ,"Try to re Not even the things you don't have stuck in a rown sodesk, peering over his work Even in the months I've been away

"What's this?" Vin asked, still looking at the desk

"I found it at the Conventical of Seran, Lady Vin," Sazed said, walking forward It felt so good to be wearing clean robes again, to have a quiet and comfortable place in which to study Was he a badthis to travel?

One ive myself one month of study Then I will turn the project over to so up the rubbing

"If you please, Lady Vin," Sazed said apprehensively "That is quite fragile The rubbing could be s it down and scanning his transcription There had been a ti that sued "This mentions the Deepness!" she said with excite her at the desk He sat down, and Vin walked over to one of the room's low-backed, plush chairs However, she didn't sit on it as an ordinary person would; instead, she hopped up and sat down on the top of the chair's back, her feet resting on the seat cushion

"What?" she asked, apparently noticing Sazed's smile

"Just amused at a proclivity of Mistborn, Lady Vin," he said "Your kind has trouble si--it seems you alant to perch instead That is what co such an incredible sense of balance, I think"

Vin frowned, but passed over the comment "Sazed," she said, "as the Deepness?"

He laced his fingers before hi woman as he mused "The Deepness, Lady Vin? That is a subject of reat and powerful, though soend as a fabrication concocted by the Lord Ruler There is some reason to believe this theory, I think, for the only real records of those times are the ones sanctioned by the Steel Ministry"

"But, the logbookyou're translating now"

"Indeed, Lady Vin," Sazed said "But, even areat deal of debate Some hold to the Lord Ruler's official story, that the Deepness was a horrible, supernatural beast--a dark god, if you will Others disagree with this extreme interpretation They think the Deepness was more mundane--an army of some sort, perhaps invaders fro pre-Ascension times, was apparently populated with several breeds of men ere quite pri He looked at her questioningly, and she just shrugged "I asked Elend this sa response"

"His Majesty has different areas of scholarship; pre-Ascension history may be too stuffy a topic even for him Besides, anyone who asks a Keeper about the past should be prepared for an extended conversation, I think"

"I'," Vin said "Continue"

"There isn't reat deal more to say, but I doubt much of it has relevance Was the Deepness an army? Was it, perhaps, the first attack from koloss, as soree that the Lord Ruler gained some power to defeat the Deepness at the Well of Ascension Perhaps he gained the support of the koloss, and then used them as his armies"

"Sazed," Vin said "I don't think the Deepness was the koloss"

"Oh?"

"I think it was the mist"

"That theory has been proposed," Sazed said with a nod

"It has?" Vin asked, sounding a bit disappointed

"Of course, Lady Vin During the thousand-year reign of the Final Empire, there are few possibilities that haven't been discussed, I think The mist theory has been advanced before, but there are several large problems with it"

"Such as?"

"Well," Sazed said, "for one thing, the Lord Ruler is said to have defeated the Deepness However, the mist is obviously still here Also, if the Deepness was simply mist, why call it by such an obscure name? Of course, others point out that much of e know or have heard of the Deepness co very common can take on enerations The 'Deepness' therefore couldor alteration

"The larger problenance If we trust the accounts--and we have little else to go on--the Deepness was terrible and destructive The er"

"But it kills people now"

Sazed paused "Yes, Lady Vin It apparently does"

"And what if it did so before, but the Lord Ruler stopped it so--soed the mist--e killed the Lord Ruler"

Sazed nodded "The proble are quite terrible, to be certain However, I do not see that they could be a threat on the same level as the Deepness Certain people have been killed by thein constitution It leaveshis thuether "But, I would be reestion, Lady Vin Perhaps even a few deaths would be enough to cause a panic The danger could have been exaggerated by retelling--and, perhaps the killings were h infor yet"

Vin didn't respond Oh, dear, Sazed thought, sighing to himself I've bored her I really do need to be e One would think that after allthe skaa, I would have learned--

"Sazed?" Vin said, sounding thoughtful "What if we're looking at it wrong? What if these random deaths in the mists aren't the problem at all?"

"What do you mean, Lady Vin?"

She sat quietly for a ainst the chair's back cushion She finally looked up,the day permanently?"