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"What did you call me?" Sazed demanded
"The Announcer," TenSoon said "You are, are you not, the one who pointed out Lady Vin as the Hero of Ages? That, then, is your title"
Sazed fell to his knees, slapping his tome--the one he had written with Tindwyl--on the floor before hi one in particular, penned in his own hand I thought myself the Holy Witness, it said, the prophet foretold to discover the Hero of Ages They were the words of Kwaan, the inally nas, which were their only clues about the original Terris religion, Sazed and the others had gleaned what little they knew of the prophecies about the Hero of Ages
"What is this?" Breeze asked, leaning down, scanning the words "Huie Not 'Announcer' at all, but 'Holy Witness' "
Sazed looked up "This is one of the passages that Ruin changed, Breeze," he said quietly "When I wrote it, it read differently--but Ruin altered it, trying to trickhis prophecies The skaa had started to call me the Holy Witness, their own ters so that they seemed prophetic and referencehis chin "What did it say before?"
Sazed ignored the question, insteadTenSoon's canine eyes "How did you know?" he demanded "How do you know the words of the ancient Terris prophecies?"
TenSoon fell back on his haunches "It strikes reat inconsistency in this all, a probleht to point out What happened to the packmen who traveled with Rashek and Alendi up to the Well of Ascension?"
Rashek The man who had becoht "That's easy, kandra," he said, waving his cane "Everyone knows that when the Lord Ruler took the throne of Khlennium, he made his trusted friends into noblemen That's why the nobility of the Final Empire were so paood friends"
TenSoon sat quietly
No, Sazed thought onder Nothat couldn't be! "He couldn't have made those packmen into nobles"
"Why ever not?" Breeze asked
"Because the nobility gained Allo "Rashek's friends were Feruchemists If he'd made them into nobleed him," TenSoon said "They could have become both Allomancers and Feruchemists as he was, and had his same powers"
"Yes," Sazed said "He spent ten centuries trying to breed Feruchemy out of the Terris population--all in fear that someday someone would be born with both Feruchemy and Allomancy! His friends ent to the Well with hierous, since they were obviously powerful Feruchemists, and they knehat Rashek had done to Alendi Rashek would have had to do so to sequester them, perhaps even kill them"
"No," TenSoon said "He didn't kill them You call the Father a monster, but he was not an evil nize the threat their powers posed to hi directly to theirthe power of creation"
"What bargain?" Breeze asked, obviously confused
"Ie for their Feruche else"
Sazed stared at the creature in the hallway, a creature who thought like a ave up their humanity," Sazed whispered
TenSoon nodded
"They live on?" Sazed asked, stepping forward "The Lord Ruler's companions? The very Terrismen who climbed to the Well with him?"
"We call them the First Generation," TenSoon said "The founders of the kandra people The Father transfor that race His good friends, however, he returned to sentience with a few Heic spikes You've done your work poorly, Keeper I expected that you'd drag this out ofbefore I had to leave"
I've been a fool, Sazed thought, blinking away tears Such a fool
"What?" Breeze asked, frowning "What's going on? Sazed? My dear man, why are you so flustered? What do this creature's wordsinto his roo into a travel pack
"Hope?" Breeze asked, peeking in
Sazed looked back, tohere Breeze stood The kandra had walked up, and stood behind hiion, Breeze," Sazed said "The thingto discover It lives on Not in written words that can be corrupted or changed But in the minds of men who actually practiced it The Terris faith is not dead!"
There was one ion to add to his list His quest was not yet over
"Quickly, Keeper," TenSoon said "I was prepared to go without you, since everyone agreed that you had stopped caring about these things However, if you will co the path I must travel to find Vin Hopefully, you will be able to convince the First Generation of the things I have not"