Mistborn #03 The Hero of Ages

Empire!"
    "Be wary," Elend said. "Spook's reports have been sparse, but it sounds as if tensions in the city are extreme. We'll send a few hundred soldiers with you as protection." He looked back at the map, eyes narrowing slightly. "Five caches, five cities. Urteau is part of this all, somehow. We can't afford to let it slip away."
    "Your Majesty," Sazed said. "Is my presence required on that trip?"
    Elend frowned, glancing back at Sazed. "You have something else you need to be doing, Sazed?"
    "I have research I would do," the Keeper said.
    "I respect your wishes, as always," Elend said. "If you think this research is important . . ."
    "It's of a personal nature, Your Majesty," Sazed said.
    "Could you do it while helping in Urteau?" Elend asked. "You're a Terrisman, which lends you a credibility none of us can claim. Beyond that, people respect and trust you, Sazed—with good reason. Breeze, on the other hand, has something of a . . . reputation."
    "I worked hard for it, you know," Breeze said.
    "I'd really like to have you lead that team, Sazed," Elend said. "I can't think of a better ambassador than the Holy Witness himself."
    Sazed's expression was unreadable. "Very well," he finally said. "I shall do my best."
    "Good," Elend said, turning to regard the rest of the group. "Then there's one last thing I need to ask of you all."
    "And what is that?" Cett asked.
    Elend stood for a few moments, looking over their heads, appearing thoughtful. "I want you to tell me about the Survivor," he finally said.
    "He was lord of the mists," Demoux said immediately.
    "Not the rhetoric," Elend said. "Someone tell me about the man, Kelsier. I never met him, you know. I saw him once, right before he died, but I never knew him."
    "What's the point?" Cett asked. "We've all heard the stories. He's practically a god, if you listen to the skaa."
    "Just do as I ask," Elend said.
    The tent was still for a few moments. Finally, Ham spoke. "Kell was . . . grand. He wasn't just a man, he was bigger than that. Everything he did was large—his dreams, the way he spoke, the way he thought. . . ."
    "And it wasn't false," Breeze added. "I can tell when a man is being a fake. That's why I started my first job with Kelsier, actually. Amidst all the pretenders and posturers, he was genuine. Everyone wanted to be the best. Kelsier really was."
    "He was a man," Vin said quietly. "Just a man. Yet, you always knew he'd succeed. He made you be what he wanted you to be."
    "So he could use you," Breeze said.
    "But you were better when he was done with you," Ham added.
    Elend nodded slowly. "I wish I could have known him. Early in my career, I always compared myself to him. By the time I heard of Kelsier, he was already becoming a legend. It was unfair to force myself to try and be him, but I worried regardless. Anyway, those of you who knew him, maybe you can answer another question for me. What do you think he'd say, if he saw us now?"
    "He'd be proud," Ham said immediately. "I mean, we defeated the Lord Ruler, and we built a skaa government."
    "What if he saw us at this conference?" Elend said.
    The tent fell still again. When someone spoke what they were all thinking, it came from a source Vin hadn't expected.
    "He'd tell us to laugh more," Sazed whispered.
    Breeze chuckled. "He was completely insane, you know. The worse things got, the more he'd joke. I remember how chipper he was the very day after one of our worst defeats, when we lost most of our skaa army to that fool Yeden. Kell walked in, a spring in his step, making one of his inane jokes."
    "Sounds insensitive," Allrianne said.
    Ham shook his head. "No. He was just determined. He always said that laughter was something the Lord Ruler couldn't take from him. He planned and executed the overthrow of a thousand-year empire—and he did it as a kind of . . . penance for letting his wife die thinking that he hated her. But, he did it all with a smirk on his lips. Like every joke was his way of slapping fate in the face."
    "We need what he had," Elend said.
    The room's eyes turned back toward him.
    "We can't keep doing this," Elend said. "We bicker amongst ourselves, we mope about, watching the ash fall, convinced that we're doomed."
    Breeze chuckled. "I don't know if you noticed the earthquake a few minutes ago, my dear man, but the world appears to be ending. That is an indisputably depressing event."
    Elend shook his head. "We can survive this. But, the only way that will happen is if our people