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"I wish I cared enough to apologize," Elend said, staring at thehts"

"Well, my dear man," Breeze said, "the most obvious option appears to be the Well of Ascension It seeht thein them," Cett said

"That doesn'theads to turn "There's no power at the Well It's gone Used up If it ever returns, it will be in another thousand years, I suspect"

"That's a little bit long to stretch the supplies in those storage caches," Elend 1said

"What if we grew plants that need very little light?" Ham asked As always, he wore si, and could burn pewter--which made him resistant to heat and cold He'd cheerfully walk around sleeveless on a day that would sendfor shelter

Well, ht, as Sazed had Ham, however, had lost some of his joviality He tended to sit around a lot, looks of consternation on his face, as if he were considering things very, very carefully--and notthe answers he caht?" Allrianne asked, cocking her head

"Mushrooms and the like," Ham said

"I doubt we could feed an entire eht"

"There have to be other plants, too," Ham said "Even if the h Some plants have to be able to live on that"

"Plants we can't eat, my dear man," Breeze pointed out

"Yes, but htfully

"Blasted little time left for horticulture," Cett noted "We should have been working on this sort of thing years ago"

"We didn't know o," Ham said

"True," Elend said "But the Lord Ruler had a thousand years to prepare That's why he e caverns--and we still don't knohat the last one contains"

"I don't like relying on the Lord Ruler, Elend," Breeze said with a shake of his head "Hethat he'd be dead if anyone ever had to use them"

Cett nodded "The idiot Soother has a point If I were the Lord Ruler, I'd have stuffed those caches with poisoned food and pissed-in water If I were dead, then everyone else ought to be as well"

"Fortunately, Cett," Elend said with a raised eyebrow, "the Lord Ruler has proven ht have expected"

"Not soht I'd hear," Ham noted

"He was emperor," Elend said "We may not have liked his rule, but I can understand him somewhat He wasn't spiteful--he wasn't even evil, exactly He justgot carried away Besides, he resisted this thing that we're fighting"

"This thing?" Cett asked "Thethat was trapped in the Well of Ascension"

It is called Ruin, Vin thought suddenly It will destroy everything

"This is why I've decided we need to secure that last cache," Elend said "The Lord Ruler lived through this once--he kne to prepare Perhaps we'll find plants that can groithout sunlight Each of the caches so far has had repeats--food stores, water--but each one has held soe stores of the first eight Alloht be just e need in order to survive"

"That's it, then!" Cett said, s on Fadrex, aren't we?"

Elend nod1ded curtly "Yes The main force of the army will march for the Western Dominance once we break camp here"

"Ha!" Cett said "Penrod and Janarle can suck on that for a few days"

Vin smiled faintly Penrod and Janarle were the two other overned Luthadel, which hy he wasn't with them currently, and Janarle ruled the Northern Dodom that included House Venture's hereditary lands

The largest city in the north, however, had been seized in a revolt while Janarle--with Elend's father, Straff Venture--had been away laying siege to Luthadel So far, Elend hadn't been able to spare the troops necessary to take Urteau back from its dissidents, so Janarle ruled in exile, his smaller force of troops used to maintain order in the cities he did control

Both Janarle and Penrod hadreasons to keep theon Cett's homeland