Mistborn #02 The Well of Ascension

She turned toward him in the darkness, studying his canine face. "What?" she asked.
    "These are not things we speak of with outsiders."
    Vin sighed. "Tell me anyway."
    "Do you command me to speak?"
    "I don't really care to command you in anything."
    "Then I may leave?" OreSeur asked. "You do not wish to command me, so our Contract is dissolved?"
    "That isn't what I meant," Vin said.
    OreSeur frowned—a strange expression to see on a dog's face. "It would be easier for me if you would try to say what you mean, Mistress."
    Vin gritted her teeth. "Why is it you're so hostile?"
    "I'm not hostile, Mistress. I am your servant, and will do as you command. That is part of the Contract."
    "Sure. Are you like this with all of your masters?"
    "With most, I am fulfilling a specific role," OreSeur said. "I have bones to imitate—a person to become, a personality to adopt. You have given me no direction; just the bones of this. . .animal."
    So that's it , Vin thought. Still annoyed by the dog's body . "Look, those bones don't really change anything. You are still the same person."
    "You do not understand. It is not who a kandra is that's important. It's who a kandra becomes . The bones he takes, the role he fulfills. None of my previous masters have asked me to do something like this."
    "Well, I'm not like other masters," Vin said. "Anyway, I asked you a question. Is there a way I can spot a kandra with Allomancy? And yes, I command you to speak."
    A flash of triumph shone in OreSeur's eyes, as if he enjoyed forcing her into her role. "Kandra cannot be affected by mental Allomancy, Mistress."
    Vin frowned. "Not at all?"
    "No, Mistress," OreSeur said. "You can try to Riot or Soothe our emotions, if you wish, but it will have no effect. We won't even know that you are trying to manipulate us."
    Like someone who is burning copper . "That's not exactly the most useful bit of information," she said, strolling past the kandra on the roof. Allomancers couldn't read minds or emotions; when they Soothed or Rioted another person, they simply had to hope that the person reacted as intended.
    She could "test" for a kandra by Soothing someone's emotions, perhaps. If they didn't react, that might mean they were a kandra—but it could also just mean that they were good at containing their emotions.
    OreSeur watched her pacing. "If it were easy to detect kandra, Mistress, then we wouldn't be worth much as impostors, would we?"
    "I suppose not," Vin acknowledged. However, thinking about what he'd said made her consider something else. "Can a kandra use Allomancy? If they eat an Allomancer, I mean?"
    OreSeur shook his head.
    That's another method, then , Vin thought. If I catch a member of the crew burning metals, then I know he's not the kandra . Wouldn't help with Dockson or the palace servants, but it would let her eliminate Ham and Spook.
    "There's something else," Vin said. "Before, when we were doing the job with Kelsier, he said that we had to keep you away from the Lord Ruler and his Inquisitors. Why was that?"
    OreSeur looked away. "This is not a thing we speak of."
    "Then I command you to speak of it."
    "Then I must refuse to answer," OreSeur said.
    "Refuse to answer?" Vin asked. "You can do that?"
    OreSeur nodded. "We are not required to reveal secrets about kandra nature, Mistress. It is—"
    "In the Contract," Vin finished, frowning. I really need to read that thing again .
    "Yes, Mistress. I have, perhaps, said too much already."
    Vin turned away from OreSeur, looking out over the city. The mists continued to spin. Vin closed her eyes, questing out with bronze, trying to feel the telltale pulse of an Allomancer burning metals nearby.
    OreSeur rose and padded over beside her, then settled down on his haunches again, sitting on the inclined roof. "Shouldn't you be at the meeting the king is having, Mistress?"
    "Perhaps later," Vin said, opening her eyes. Out beyond the city, watchfires from the armies lit the horizon. Keep Venture blazed in the night to her right, and inside of it, Elend was holding council with the others. Many of the most important men in the government, sitting together in one room. Elend would call her paranoid for insisting that she be the one who watched for spies and assassins. That was fine; he could call her whatever he wanted, as long as he stayed alive.
    She settled back down. She was glad Elend had decided to pick Keep Venture as his palace, rather than moving into Kredik Shaw, the Lord Ruler's home. Not