Mistborn #02 The Well of Ascension

quietly.
    "Yes?"
    "My apologies, but it is not your duty to do what the people want."
    Elend blinked. "You sound like Tindwyl."
    "I have known few people as wise as she, Your Majesty," Sazed said, glancing at her.
    "Well, I disagree with both of you," Elend said. "A ruler should only lead by the consent of the people he rules."
    "I do not disagree with that, Your Majesty," Sazed said. "Or, at least, I do believe in the theory of it. Regardless, I still do not believe that your duty is to do as the people wish. Your duty is to lead as best you can, following the dictates of your conscience. You must be true, Your Majesty, to the man you wish to become. If that man is not whom the people wish to have lead them, then they will choose someone else."
    Elend paused. Well, of course. If I shouldn't be an exception to my own laws, I shouldn't be an exception to my own ethics, either . Sazed's words were really just a rephrasing of things Tindwyl had said about trusting oneself, but Sazed's explanation seemed a better one. A more honest one.
    "Trying to guess what people wish of you will only lead to chaos, I think," Sazed said. "You cannot please them all, Elend Venture."
    The study's small ventilation window bumped open, and Vin squeezed through, pulling in a puff of mist behind her. She closed the window, then surveyed the room.
    "More?" she asked incredulously. "You found more books?"
    "Of course," Elend said.
    "How many of those things have people written?" she asked with exasperation.
    Elend opened his mouth, then paused as he saw the twinkle in her eye. Finally, he just sighed. "You're hopeless," he said, turning back to his letters.
    He heard rustling from behind, and a moment later Vin landed on one of his stacks of books, somehow managing to balance atop it. Her mistcloak tassels hung down around her, smudging the ink on his letter.
    Elend sighed.
    "Oops," Vin said, pulling back the mistcloak. "Sorry."
    "Is it really necessary to leap around like that all the time, Vin?" Elend asked.
    Vin jumped down. "Sorry," she repeated, biting her lip. "Sazed says it's because Mistborn like to be up high, so we can see everything that's going on."
    Elend nodded, continuing the letter. He preferred them to be in his own hand, but he'd need to have a scribe rewrite this one. He shook his head. So much to do . . ..

    Vin watched Elend scribble. Sazed sat reading, as did one of Elend's scribes—the obligator. She eyed the man, and he shrank down a little in his seat. He knew that she'd never trusted him. Priests shouldn't be cheerful.
    She was excited to tell Elend what she'd discovered about Demoux, but she hesitated. There were too many people around, and she didn't really have any evidence—just her instincts. So, she held herself back, looking over the stacks of books.
    There was a dull quiet in the room. Tindwyl sat with her eyes slightly glazed; she was probably studying some ancient biography in her mind. Even Ham was reading, though he flipped from book to book, hopping topics. Vin felt as if she should be studying something, too. She thought of the notes she'd been making about the Deepness and the Hero of Ages, but couldn't bring herself to get them out.
    She couldn't tell him about Demoux, yet, but there was something else she'd discovered.
    "Elend," she said quietly. "I have something to tell you."
    "Humm?"
    "I heard the servants talking when OreSeur and I got dinner earlier," Vin said. "Some people they know have been sick lately—a lot of them. I think that someone might be fiddling with our supplies."
    "Yes," Elend said, still writing. "I know. Several wells in the city have been poisoned."
    "They have?"
    He nodded. "Didn't I tell you when you checked on me earlier? That's where Ham and I were."
    "You didn't tell me."
    "I thought I did," Elend said, frowning.
    Vin shook her head.
    "I apologize," he said, leaned up and kissed her, then turned back to his scribbling.
    And a kiss is supposed to make it all right ? she thought sullenly, sitting back on a stack of books.
    It was a silly thing; there was really no reason that Elend should have told her so quickly. And yet, the exchange left her feeling odd. Before, he would have asked her to do something about the problem. Now, he'd apparently handled it all on his own.
    Sazed sighed, closing his tome. "Your Majesty, I can find no holes. I have read your laws over six times now."
    Elend nodded. "I feared as much. The only advantage we could gain from the law is to