Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson [455]
Sazed sat back from his work of transcribing the rubbing. There was still a great deal to do—it was amazing how much writing this Kwaan had managed to cram onto the relatively small sheet of steel.
Sazed looked over his work. He’d spent his entire trip north anticipating the time when he could finally begin work on the rubbing. A part of him had been worried. Would the dead man’s words seem as important sitting in a well-lit room as they had when in the dungeons of the Conventical of Seran?
He scanned to another part of the document, reading a few choice paragraphs. Ones of particular importance to him.
As the one who found Alendi, however, I became someone important. Foremost amongst the Worldbringers.
There was a place for me, in the lore of the Anticipation—I thought myself the Announcer, the prophet foretold to discover the Hero of Ages. Renouncing Alendi then would have been to renounce my new position, my acceptance, by the others.
And so I did not.
But I do so now. Let it be known that I, Kwaan, Worldbringer of Terris, am a fraud.
Sazed closed his eyes. Worldbringer. The term was known to him; the order of the Keepers had been founded upon memories and hopes from Terris legends. The Worldbringers had been teachers, Feruchemists who had traveled the lands bearing knowledge. They had been a prime inspiration for the secret order of Keepers.
And now he had a document made by a Worldbringer’s own hand.
Tindwyl is going to be very annoyed with me, Sazed thought, opening his eyes. He’d read the entire rubbing, but he would need to spend time studying it. Memorizing it. Cross-referencing it with other documents. This one bit of writing—perhaps twenty pages total—could easily keep him busy for months, even years.
His window shutters rattled. Sazed looked up. He was in his quarters at the palace—a tasteful collection of well-decorated rooms that were far too lavish for one who had spent his life as a servant. He rose, walked over to the window, undid the latch, and pulled open the shutters. He smiled as he found Vin crouching on the ledge outside.
“Um…hi,” Vin said. She wore her mistcloak over gray shirt and black trousers. Despite the onset of morning, she obviously hadn’t yet gone to bed after her nightly prowling. “You should leave your window unlatched. I can’t get in if it’s locked. Elend got mad at me for breaking too many latches.”
“I shall try to remember that, Lady Vin,” Sazed said, and gesturing for her to enter.
Vin hopped spryly through the window, mistcloak rustling. “Try to remember?” she asked. “You never forget anything. Not even the things you don’t have stuck in a metalmind.”
She’s grown so much more bold, he thought as she walked over to his writing desk, peering over his work. Even in the months I’ve been away.
“What’s this?” Vin asked, still looking at the desk.
“I found it at the Conventical of Seran, Lady Vin,” Sazed said, walking forward. It felt so good to be wearing clean robes again, to have a quiet and comfortable place in which to study. Was he a bad man for preferring this to travel?
One month, he thought. I will give myself one month of study. Then I will turn the project over to someone else.
“What is it?” Vin asked, holding up the rubbing.
“If you please, Lady Vin,” Sazed said apprehensively. “That is quite fragile. The rubbing could be smudged….”
Vin nodded, putting it down and scanning his transcription. There had been a time when she would have avoided anything that smelled of stuffy writing, but now she looked intrigued. “This mentions the Deepness!” she said with excitement.
“Among other things,” Sazed said, joining her at the desk. He sat down, and Vin walked over to one of the room’s low-backed, plush chairs. However, she didn’t sit on it as an ordinary person would; instead, she hopped up and sat down on the top