Mistborn #03 The Hero of Ages

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.
    And yet, it felt so . . . inadequate to just scream it out like some raving human. Would any of his people really believe? Would he change anything at all?
    "You have, by your own admission, betrayed us," KanPaar said. "You've broken Contract, you've murdered one of your own generation, and you've told a human how to dominate us. You demanded judgment. Let it come."
    TenSoon turned quietly, looking up toward the alcoves where the members of the First Generation watched.
    Perhaps . . . perhaps they'll see that what I say is true. Perhaps my words will shock them, and they'll realize that we need to offer service to Vin, rather than just sit in these caves and wait while the world ends around us .
    But, nothing happened. No motion, no sound. At times, TenSoon wondered if anyone still lived up there. He hadn't spoken with a member of the First Generation for centuries—they limited their communications strictly to the Seconds.
    If they did still live, none of them took the opportunity to offer TenSoon clemency. KanPaar smiled. "The First Generation has ignored your plea, Third," he said. "Therefore, as their servants, we of the Second Generation will offer judgment on their behalf. Your sentencing will occur in one month's time."
    TenSoon frowned. A month? Why wait?
    Either way, it was over. He bowed his head, sighing. He'd had his say. The kandra now knew that their Secret was out—the Seconds could no longer hide that fact. Perhaps his words would inspire his people to action.
    TenSoon would probably never know.

Rashek moved the Well of Ascension, obviously .
    It was very clever of him—perhaps the cleverest thing he did. He knew that the power would one day return to the Well, for power such as this—the fundamental power by which the world itself was formed—does not simply run out. It can be used, and therefore diffused, but it will always be renewed .
    So,