"You're awake," she said, moving up beside him.
He nodded. He didn't look at her, but continued to watch the city, with its bustling people. He'd spent quite a bit of time delirious and in bed, despite the healing power of his newfound Allomancy. Even with pewter, the surgeons had been uncertain if he'd survive.
He had. And, like a true Allomancer, he was up and about the first day he was lucid.
"What happened?" he sked.
She shook her head, leaning against the stones of the battlement. She- could still hear that terrible, booming voice. I am FREE....
"I'm an Allomancer," Elend said.
She nodded.
"Mistbom, apparently," he continued.
"I think ... we know where they came from, now," Vin said. 'The first Allomancers."
"What happened to the power? Ham didn't -have a straight answer for me, and all anyone else knows are rumors."
"I set something free," she whispered. "Something that shouldn't have been released; something that led me to the Well. I should never have gone looking for it, Elend."
Elend stood in silence, still regarding the city.
She turned, burying her head in his chest. "It was terrible," she said. "I could feel that. And I set it free."
Finally, Elend wrapped his arms around her. "You did the best you could, Vin," he said. "In fact, you did the right thing. How could you have known that everything you'd been told, trained, and prepared to do was wrong?"
Vin shook her head. "I am worse than the Lord Ruler. In the end, maybe he realized he was being tricked, and knew he had to take the power rather than release it."
"If he'd been a good man, Vin," Elend said, "he wouldn't have done the things he did to this land."
"I may have done far worse," Vin said. 'This thing I released ... the mists killing people, and coming during the day ... Elend, what are we going to do?"
He looked at her for a moment, then turned back toward the city and its people. "We're going to do what Kelsier taught us, Vin. We're going to survive."
THE END OF BOOK TWO
Well of Ascension Page 77
