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"Different?" Elend asked, doing up the buttons on his jacket sleeves "What is different about Tindwyl's death? She fell during the assault on Luthadel So did Clubs and Dockson You killed my own father in that battle, and I beheaded my best friend shortly before it We've all lost people"

"He said so like that himself," Vin said "But, it's more than just one death to him I think he sees a kind of betrayal in Tindwyl's death--he alas the only one of us who had faith He lost that w1hen she died, somehow"

"The only one of us who had faith?" Elend asked, plucking a wooden, silver-painted pin off his desk and affixing it to his jacket "What about this?"

"You belong to the Church of the Survivor, Elend," Vin said "But you don't have faith Not like Sazed did It was likehe knew everything would turn out all right He trusted that so over the world"

"He'll deal with it"

"It's not just him, Elend," Vin said "Breeze tries too hard"

"What does that mean?" Elend asked with amusement

"He Pushes on everyone's e to hs too hard He's afraid, worried He shows it by overco as bad as he is, reading everybody's e"

"They'reyou--they're giving up One by one, they're beginning to think we can't win this one"

Elend fastened the final button, then looked at himself in the mirror Sometimes, he still wondered if he fit the ornate suit, with its crisp whiteness and i past the short beard, warrior's body, and scarred skin He looked into those eyes, searching for the king behind them As always, he wasn't completely impressed hat he saw

He carried on anyway, for he was the best they had Tindwyl had taught hiht about the others--I'll do so to fix it"

That, after all, was his job The title of ele duty

To ht," Elend said, pointing to aon the wall of the conference tent "We timed the arrival and disappearance of the mists each day, then Noorden and his scribes analyzed theuide"

The group leaned in, studying the map Vin sat at the back of the tent, as was still her preference Closer to the shadows Closer to the exit She'd grown more confident, true--but that didn't make her careless She liked to be able to keep an eye on everyone in the room, even if she did trust them

And she did Except roup, his quiet teenage son at his side, as always Cett--or, King Cett, one of the iance to Elend--had an unfashionable beard, an even s that didn't work That hadn't kept hi Luthadel over a year before

"Hell," Cett said "You expect us to be able to read that thing?"

Elend tapped the h sketch of the empire, similar to the one they'd found in the cavern, only e concentric circles inscribed on it

"The outermost circle is the place where the er leave at all during the daylight" Elend er inward to another circle "This circle passes through the village we just visited, where we found the cache This ets ets less"

"And the final circle?" Breeze asked He sat with Allrianne as far away from Cett as the tent would allow Cett still had a habit of throwing things at Breeze: insults, for the most part, and occasionally knives

Elend eyed thetoward Luthadel at the same rate, that circle represents the area that the scribes feel will get enough sunlight this summer to support crops"

The room fell silent

Hope is for the foolish, Reen's voice seemed to whisper in the back of Vin's mind She shook her head Her brother, Reen, had trained her in the ways of the street and the underground, teaching her to be ht her to survive It had taken Kelsier to show her that it was possible to both trust and survive--and it had been a hard lesson Even so, she still often heard Reen's phanto else--whispering her insecurities, bringing back the brutal things he had taught her

"That's a fairly se-muscled man sat with General Demoux between Cett and Breeze Sazed sat quietly to the side Vin glanced at hie if their previous conversation had lifted his depression any, but she couldn't tell

They were a sroup: only nine, if one counted Cett's son, Gneorndin But, it included prettyreconnaissance in the North, wasEveryone was focused on theas the Central Dominance, which held the imperial capital of Luthadel What the map said, and Elend implied, was that over ninety percent of the empire wouldn't be able to support crops this suone by next winter," Elend said

Vin watched the others contemplate, and realize--if they hadn't already--the horror of as upon theht They couldn't fight the Deepness with ar a slow, terrible death They were helpless

The Deepness That hat they'd called therecords called theht, the primal force Vin had released, was behind the obfuscation There was really no way of knowing for sure what had once been, for the entity had the power to change records

"All right, people," Elend said, folding his arms "We need options Kelsier recruited you because you could do the impossible Well, our predicament is pretty impossible"

"He didn't recruit ot pulled by my balls into this little fiasco"