Mistborn #02 The Well of Ascension

see!"
    "Perfect," Vin said, pulling out some coins.
    "Good lady, I couldn't possibly sell you that beast. Not possibly at all. Why, I'll bet it weighs half again as much as you do."
    Vin nodded, then pulled open the pen gate and strode in. The merchant cried out, but Vin walked right up to the wolfhound. He began to bark wildly at her, frothing.
    Sorry about this , Vin thought. Then, burning pewter, she ducked in and slammed her fist into the animal's head.
    The animal froze, wobbled, then fell unconscious in the dirt. The merchant stopped up short beside her, mouth open.
    "Leash," Vin ordered.
    He gave her one. She used it to tie the wolfhound's feet together, and then—with a flare of pewter—she threw the animal over her shoulders. She cringed only slightly at the pain in her side.
    This thing better not get drool on my shirt , she thought, handing the merchant some coins and walking back toward the palace.

    Vin slammed the unconscious wolfhound to the floor. The guards had given her some strange looks as she entered the palace, but she was getting used to those. She brushed off her hands.
    "What is that?" OreSeur asked. He'd made it back to her rooms at the palace, but his current body was obviously unusable. He'd needed to form muscles in places that men didn't normally have them to even keep the skeleton together, and while he'd healed his wounds, his body looked unnatural. He still wore the bloodstained clothing from the night before.
    "This," Vin said, pointing at the wolfhound, "is your new body."
    OreSeur paused. " That ? Mistress, that is a dog."
    "Yes," Vin said.
    "I am a man."
    "You're a kandra," Vin said. "You can imitate flesh and muscle. What about fur?"
    The kandra did not look pleased. "I cannot imitate it," he said, "but I can use the beast's own fur, like I use its bones. However, surely there is—"
    "I'm not going to kill for you, kandra," Vin said. "And even if I did kill someone, I wouldn't let you. . .eat them. Plus, this will be more inconspicuous. People will begin to talk if I keep replacing my stewards with unknown men. I've been telling people for months that I was thinking of dismissing you. Well, I'll tell them that I finally did—nobody will think to realize that my new pet hound is actually my kandra."
    She turned, nodding toward the carcass. "This will be very useful. People pay less attention to hounds than they do to humans, and so you'll be able to listen in on conversations."
    OreSeur's frown deepened. "I will not do this thing easily. You will need to compel me, by virtue of the Contract."
    "Fine," Vin said. "You're commanded. How long will it take?"
    "A regular body only takes a few hours," OreSeur said. "This could take longer. Getting that much fur to look right will be challenging."
    "Get started, then," Vin said, turning toward the door. On her way, however, she noticed a small package sitting on her desk. She frowned, walking over and taking off the lid. A small note sat inside.
Lady Vin ,
Here is the next alloy you requested. Aluminum is very difficult to acquire, but when a noble family recently left the city, I was able to buy some of their diningware .
I do not know if this one will work, but I believe it worth a try. I have mixed the aluminum with four percent copper, and found the outcome quite promising. I have read of this composition; it is called duralumin .
Your servant, Terion
    Vin smiled, setting aside the note and removing the rest of the box's contents: a small pouch of metal dust and a thin silvery bar, both presumably of this "duralumin" metal. Terion was a master Allomantic metallurgist. Though not an Allomancer himself, he had been mixing alloys and creating dusts for Mistborn and Mistings for most of his life.
    Vin pocketed both pouch and bar, then turned toward OreSeur. The kandra regarded her with a flat expression.
    "This came for me today?" Vin asked, nodding to the box.
    "Yes, Mistress," OreSeur said. "A few hours ago."
    "And you didn't tell me?"
    "I'm sorry, Mistress," OreSeur said in his toneless way, "but you did not command me to tell you if packages arrived."
    Vin ground her teeth. He knew how anxiously she'd been waiting for another alloy from Terion. All of the previous aluminum alloys they'd tried had turned out to be duds. It bothered her to know that there was another Allomantic metal out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered. She wouldn't be satisfied until she found it.
    OreSeur just sat where he was, bland expression on his