“Marsh is going to live,” Sazed said, settling down beside Kelsier. If you didn’t look directly at him, you could almost ignore the fact that his essence extended into eternity.
Sazed spoke like he always had, though he was literally a god now. Kelsier wasn’t certain if that was because Harmony presented a personality that was familiar to Kelsier, to put him at ease. Or if the man who had once been Kelsier’s friend was actually the same person somehow.
“Marsh will live,” Kelsier said, musing. “Does that mean we have atium again? Or did you find another way?”
“The kandra found atium dust in Waxillium’s destroyed laboratory,” Sazed said. “It appears that if you detonate harmonium against trellium — or, I suppose bavadinium would be its true name — it creates some small amount of atium as a by-product.”
“Lerasium?” Kelsier asked.
“I’m sorry. That is all annihilated in the explosion. We’ve tested it several times now.”
Damn. Another dead end.
“It wouldn’t work on you anyway,” Sazed said. “Not in your current state.”
“Doesn’t matter, Saze,” Kelsier said. “We need Allomancers — real Allomancers, like in the old days — to face what is coming. This problem with Trell never would have happened if we’d had proper Metalborn.”
“So you agree with the Set?” Sazed said. “And their monstrous undertakings in the name of creating Metalborn?”
Did he? It was difficult to say. Sometimes to make an omelet, you had to break a few skulls. He didn’t like what the Set had done to innocent people, and would never condone such actions. But if Hemalurgy was demanded, there was always someone around who was the strict opposite of innocent.
“You don’t know where the Set’s experiments could have led,” Sazed said. “Even the simple act of trying to breed Allomancers … it leads to darkness, Kell. Trying to create perfect people through forced breeding? You don’t have to be Terris to find that idea nauseating.”
“Perhaps Ruin and Preservation should have thought about that before giving genetically derived powers to only part of the population. My goal is to democratize this. Take the power away from the few, give it to the many.”
Lerasium would have been the easiest way, but it seemed he would have to keep hunting. That gave him hope for himself though. Lerasium wouldn’t have worked on him, and Hemalurgy had proven ineffective on what he’d become. It held his soul and body together, but no more.
There had to be another way. He had hope. Ever, he had hope. Hope he could control the metals again. Hope he would be able to soar again. Hope he’d be able to touch the metals he could see in the world all around him.
The two sat in silence for a time. They did that more and more, during their infrequent meetings. Perhaps because both knew it was better than arguing.
“I’m fond of heights,” Kelsier eventually said. “More so than when I was fully mortal. Perhaps a part of me holds a grudge against the ground, and what she did to me in those caves. Maybe I just try to get as far from her as possible.” He paused. “Explosions to make atium. I wonder if there will ever be a way to get it that isn’t traumatic.”
Sazed didn’t reply.
“How could you let it get this far, Saze?” Kelsier eventually asked. “This was almost the end.”
“I had it in hand.”
“Like hell you did. You’re lucky that lawman could function after what you put him through six years ago. Lucky that the other one was a Slider. I still can’t figure out how he managed that partial detonation in the ship’s hold.”
“Luck is a different thing for a god who can see futures, I think,” Sazed replied softly.
“Immaterial. This ran to the last minute. You should have stopped Trell years ago. But you didn’t. Why?”
Sazed stared out over the city. Beyond the city. To things Kelsier couldn’t see, even with the eye of a god.
“You can’t protect this world, Saze,” Kelsier said. “We have to face it. Something’s happening to you.”
“I have it in hand.”
“Do you? Do you really?”
Sazed remained there, seated, with his eyes closed. And damn, looking at him was disorienting. On the surface was his friend, the calm Terrisman. But he extended. Somehow he was the very stone they were sitting on. The city. The planet. And beyond.
And there was a darkness within him. A different face from the one he showed. The powers were in imbalance. Ruin had always been stronger.
“What would you have me do?” Sazed asked.
“There are potential allies out there,” Kelsier said. “Moonlight’s world, perhaps. Or the land of the aethers. Hell, maybe even Mythos. We need a way to reach them.”
“Shadesmar—”
“Is unreliable,” Kelsier said. “I know you’re barely able to get the kandra out into the wider cosmere; it’s untenable for large-scale travel. Besides, crossing it anymore is like walking into the hands of various gods who absolutely want us dead. There’s got to be a better way.”
“What are you proposing?” Sazed asked.
“Lead us into a new technological age,” Kelsier said. “Help us find ways to defend ourselves, and perhaps accomplish even more. Autonomy consistently shares with her people the things they can accomplish with electricity and industry. You don’t.”
“People should discover it on their own,” Sazed said. “If they do not, there are subtle consequences. We should let the decades play out, becoming centuries, and let humankind find their own path to the cosmere—”
“No,” Kelsier said. “We can’t wait centuries; we can barely wait decades. If you don’t do something, we will discover technology on our own — when enemy armies bearing it arrive to destroy us. Lead us to a revolution, Saze. Bring us into a new world.”
“The one we’ve arrived at isn’t progressing quickly enough?”
“What do you think?” Kelsier asked. “Another few weeks, and they’d have had that rocket working, wouldn’t they? They’d have delivered it straight into the heart of Elendel, and millions would have been vaporized — and we’d have never known it was possible. Well, none of us but you.”
Sazed looked down. “I will … consider.”
“Consider?” Kelsier said. “This is all going to get worse, unless we can stand against the outsiders. Yes, their army withdrew from Shadesmar — you’re welcome for my people’s help with that, by the way — but only because Autonomy is regrouping.
“They’re going to come back, and we need to be ready. With technology. More, with our most powerful resource. We need Allomancers and Feruchemists. Is there a way to expand our access to Metalborn? They have the seed inside them, don’t they? The heart of Preservation?”
“I don’t know,” Sazed whispered.
“Are you lying?”
“Have I ever lied to you, old friend?” Sazed opened his eyes and met his gaze, showing infinity within those depths.
“I,” Kelsier said, “am going to protect our people. Whatever it costs. Please tell me I won’t ever have to protect them from you.”
“That depends,” Sazed said, “entirely upon you, old friend.”
RANETTE
SIX MONTHS AFTER DETONATION
Ranette’s honeymoon had been dreadful. Full of relaxing and reading books and seeing sights in Malwish. Not a single gun. She’d barely been allowed to draw schematics and designs.