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Sixteen Why sixteen percent?

The beads of metal found at the Well--beads that made men into Mistborn--were the reason why Allomancers used to be more powerful Those first Mistborn were as Elend Venture beca a prih the lines of the nobility, weakening a bit with each generation

The Lord Ruler was one of these ancient Allo That is part of why he was so h, admittedly, his ability to mix Feruchemy and Allomancy hat produced many of histo me that one of his "divine" powers--his essential Alloinal nine Allomancers possessed

22

SAZED SAT IN ONE OF THE NICER BUILDINGS at the Pits of Hathsin--a for of hot tea The Terris elders sat in chairs before hi warmth On the next day, Sazed would have to leave to catch up with Goradel and Breeze, ould be well on their way to Urteau by now

The sunlight was di just outside the glassSazed could just barely round outside--cracks, in the earth There were dozens of the cracks; the Terris people had built fences to o, before Kelsier had destroyed the atium crystals,seodes which had beads of atium at their centers

Each slave who hadn't been able to find at least one geode a week had been executed There were likely still hundreds, perhaps thousands, of corpses pinned beneath the ground, lost in deep caverns, dead without anyone knowing or caring

What a terrible place this was, Sazed thought, turning away fro Terriswoman closed the shutters Before hiers which showed the resources, expenditures, and needs of the Terris people

"I believe I suggested keeping these figures in metal," Sazed said

"Yes, Master Keeper," said one of the elderly stewards "We copy the i, then check theed"

"That is well," Sazed said, picking through one of the ledgers, sitting in his lap "And sanitation? Have you addressed those issues since my last visit?"

"Yes, Master Keeper," said another man "We have prepared h we do not need theees," Saze1d said "I wish for you to be able to care for a larger population, should it becoestions, not coroup of stewards shared glances Sazed had been busy during his ti on his h supplies, that they kept a good communication with Penrod in Luthadel, and that they had a syste themselves

"Master Keeper," one of the elders finally said "How long will you be staying?"

"I , I fear," Sazed said "I came simply to check on your needs This is a difficult tiotten by those in Luthadel, I think"

"We are well, Master Keeper," said one of the others He was the youngest of the elders, and he was only a few years younger than Sazed Most of the men here were far older--and far wiser--than he That they should look to hi

"Will you not reconsider your place with us, Master Keeper?" asked another "We want not for food or for land Yet, e do lack is a leader"

"The Terris people were oppressed long enough, I think," Sazed said "You have no need for another tyrant king"

"Not a tyrant," one said "One of our own"

"The Lord Ruler was one of our own," Sazed said quietly,

The group of men looked down That the Lord Ruler had proven to be Terris was a shauide us," one of thethe days of the Lord Ruler, he was not our leader We looked to the Keeper Synod"

The Keeper Synod--the clandestine leaders of Sazed's sect They had led the Terris people for centuries, secretly working to make certain that Feruchemy continued, despite the Lord Ruler's attempts to breed the power out of the people

"Master Keeper," said Master Vedlew, senior of the elders

"Yes, Master Vedlew?"

"You do not wear your copperminds"

Sazed looked down He hadn't realized it was noticeable that, beneath his robes, he wasn't wearing the metal bracers "They are in my pack"

"It seems odd, tothe Lord Ruler's tier Yet, now that you are free to do as you wish, you carry them in your pack"

Sazed shook his head "I cannot be the ht now"

"You are a Keeper"

"I was the lowest of them," Sazed said "A rebel and a reject They cast dwen, I did so in disgrace The common people cursed me in the quiet of their homes"

"Now they bless you, Master Sazed," said one of the s"

"Deserve them or not, you are all we have left"