Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson [699]
But against all of his training, TenSoon had helped Vin. And, in doing so, he had revealed to her the great Secret of the kandra. Their weakness: that an Allomancer could use their powers to take complete control of a kandra’s body. The kandra served their Contracts to keep this Secret hidden—they became servants, lest they end up as slaves. TenSoon opened his eyes to the quiet chamber. This was the moment he had been planning for.
“I didn’t break my Contract,” he announced.
KanPaar snorted. “You said otherwise when you came to us a year ago, Third.”
“I told you what happened,” TenSoon said, standing tall. “What I said was not a lie. I helped Vin instead of Zane. Partially because of my actions, my master ended up dead at Vin’s feet. But I did not break my Contract.”
“You imply that Zane wanted you to help his enemy?” KanPaar said.
“No,” TenSoon said. “I did not break my Contract because I decided to serve a greater Contract. The First Contract!”
“The Father is dead!” one of the Seconds snapped. “How could you serve our Contract with him?”
“He is dead,” TenSoon said. “That is true. But the First Contract did not die with him! Vin, the Heir of the Survivor, was the one who killed the Lord Ruler. She is our Mother now. Our First Contract is with her!”
He had expected outcries of blasphemy and condemnation. Instead, he got shocked silence. KanPaar stood, stupefied, behind his stone lectern. The members of the First Generation were silent, as usual, sitting in their shadowed alcoves.
Well, TenSoon thought, I suppose that means I should continue. “I had to help the woman Vin,” he said. “I could not let Zane kill her, for I had a duty to her—a duty that began the moment she took the Father’s place.”
KanPaar finally found his voice. “She? Our Mother? She killed the Lord Ruler!”
“And took his place,” TenSoon said. “She is one of us, in a way.”
“Nonsense!” KanPaar said. “I had expected rationalizations, TenSoon—perhaps even lies. But these fantasies? These blasphemies?”
“Have you been outside recently, KanPaar?” TenSoon asked. “Have you left the Homeland in the last century at all? Do you understand what is happening? The Father is dead. The land is in upheaval. While returning to the Homeland a year ago, I saw the changes in the mists. They no longer behave as they always have. We cannot continue as we have. The Second Generation may not yet realize it, but Ruin has come! Life will end. The time that the Worldbringers spoke of—perhaps the time for the Resolution—is here!”
“You are delusional, TenSoon. You’ve been amongst the humans too—”
“Tell them what this is all really about, KanPaar,” TenSoon interrupted, voice rising. “Don’t you want my real sin known? Don’t you want the others to hear?”
“Don’t force this, TenSoon,” KanPaar said, pointing again. “What you’ve done is bad enough. Don’t make it—”
“I told her,” TenSoon said, cutting him off again. “I told her our Secret. At the end, she used me. Like the Allomancers of old. She took control of my body, using the Flaw, and she made me fight against Zane! This is what I’ve done. I’ve betrayed us all. She knows—and I’m certain that she has told others. Soon they’ll all know how to control us. And, do you know why I did it? Is it not the point of this judgment for me to speak of my purposes?”
He kept talking, despite the fact that KanPaar tried to speak over him. “I did it because she has the right to know our Secret,” TenSoon shouted. “She is the Mother! She inherited everything the Lord Ruler had. Without her, we have nothing. We cannot create new Blessings, or new kandra, on our own! The Trust is hers, now! We should go to her. If this truly is the end of all things, then the Resolution will soon come. She will—”
“Enough!” KanPaar bellowed.
The chamber fell silent again.
TenSoon stood, breathing deeply. For a year, trapped in his pit, he’d planned how to proclaim that information. His people had spent a thousand years, ten generations, following the teachings of the First Contract. They deserved to hear what had happened to him.