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The stone door shut behind her

"and that," Elend said, "is why the Lord Ruler's syste the away froument The problem was, Yomen actually was interested

"Youthe table idly with his fork "The sixth-century stewardship program was not even devised by the Lord Ruler The newly formed Canton of Inquisition proposed it as a means of population control for the Terris, and the Lord Ruler agreed to it provisionally"

"That provision turned into aan entire race of people," Elend said

"That subjugation started far earlier," Yomen said "Everyone knows the history of this, Venture The Terris were a people who absolutely refused to submit to imperial rule, and they had to be strictly reined in However, can you honestly say that Terris stewards were treated poorly? They're the most honored servants in all of the eone'shis arms

"There are at least a dozen sources I could quote you on that," Yomen said with a wave of his hand "What about Trendalan? He clai hts of logic and of harmony, since he wasn't distracted by worldly lusts"

"He didn't have a choice in the matter," Elend said

"Few of us have choice in our stations," Yomen replied

"I prefer people to have that choice," Elend said "You'll notice that I have given the skaa freedoiven the nobility a parlia the city in whi1ch they live"

"High ideals," Yonize Trendalan's oords in what you claim to have done However, even he said that it would be unlikely for such a syste"

Elend sument Ham never delved deeply into topics--he liked philosophical questions, but not scholarly debates--and Sazed just didn't like to argue

I wish I could have ht Back when I had time to simply worry about philosophy Oh, the discussions we could have had

Of course, those discussions probably would have ended up with Elend in the hands of the Steel Inquisitors for being a revolutionary Still, he had to admit that Yomen was no fool He knew his history and his politics--he just happened to have completely erroneous beliefs Another day, Elend would have been happy to persuade hiuly tense for Elend He couldn't maintain both Yomen's attention and that of the crowd Each tiet the crowd back, Yoet suspicious--and each tirew bored with the philosophical debate

So it was that Elend was actually relieved when the yells of surprise finally came Seconds later, a pair of soldiers rushed into the rooown

Lord Ruler, Vin! Elend thought Was that really necessary?

Elend glanced back at Yomen, and the two shared a look Then Yomen stood "Where is the eo, Elend thought, re occurred to hiet this close to Yoht And there's one sure way to prove whether or not he's an Allomancer

Try to kill hirowing certain he'd never convince Yomen to surrender his city He'd claimed that he wasn't Mistborn; it was very i his instincts in this matter, Elend dropped a coin and Pushed hian to cry out, their idyllic world shattering as Elend whipped out a pair of glass daggers Yo to be Yo staves from beneath the table

"You liar," Yo table "Thief, butcher, tyrant!"

Elend shrugged, then shot coins at the two guards, easily dropping the thehim backward Gasps and screa Yoth flooded the man's limbs No Allorasp The obligator barely even struggled

Either he's no Alloht, or he's one hell of an actor