Beautiful Destroyer

Chapter Two

"Everything should be green."
-Mistborn

Vin woke up, her body a single, massive ache. What happened? Did she do something wrong? Reen always beat her when she drew attention to herself or spoke up when she was supposed to stay silent.

It's the only way you'll learn.

Vin stirred, and realized that she was lying on a mattress instead of a mat or the hard floor. Of course. Reen had been gone for ages, and Vin was at Renoux manor, pretending to be Lady Valette. And she hurt so much because … because of the Steel Inquisitor. She remembered following Kelsier to the Lord Ruler's palace.

She didn't remember coming back.

She forced herself to sit up, ignoring the protests of her body, and looked around. She wasn't in her room at the manor, she was someplace she didn't recognize at all. The room was a bit smaller than what she had at Renoux manor, but still more lavish than anyone needed, and the bed was just as soft. A new hideout?

Well, she wouldn't get anywhere by lying around. She didn't think Kelsier would leave her behind like her previous crew leaders, but sleeping in made her nervous, and she had questions.

A large bandage covered her side where an Inquisitor's obsidian ax had hacked into her, and the wound was mostly healed. She didn't know who had tended to her injuries, probably Sazed, but whoever it was seemed to have undressed her before putting her to bed, leaving her in her undergarments. Some people found that more comfortable, and maybe for people who could take privacy for granted it made sense, but to Vin, it was just more practical to sleep in her clothes.

As she made her way to the wardrobe, or armoire, as nobles might have preferred, she glanced out an open window.

And into a blue sky. Not a sky stained with ash, but a pure, crystal blue, with a sun that was yellow instead of red. And below that … a green field.

Everything was so much more vivacious and vibrant than she had thought possible, colors so bright that Vin didn't know they existed beyond a noblewoman's gown. It was impossible, so strange, so wrong, so … right.

Kelsier had mentioned a time when plants were green instead of brown and grew more fertile in the wild than cultivated gardens did now.

And there it was. Right in front of her.

Where am I? Not in Renoux manor, that was for sure. She wasn't even in the Central Dominance. Kelsier couldn't have brought her here.

So who did?

Well, she wouldn't find out in this room. She opened the wardrobe to get dressed. As Lady Valette, she wore ball gowns, each a different cut and color, beautiful, unique, foolish. Here, the wardrobe was full of identical white shirts and black skirts.

And in the bottom drawer, she found her own clothes. And her mistcloak.

She yearned to put them on, not just to wear her good, practical shirt and trousers, worn enough so she didn't need to worry about keeping them clean, but to be Mistborn again.

But she didn't. Kelsier gave the night to her with its deep shadows and swirling mists, but during the day with no metal, she was just Vin the skaa thief. Or … someone else.

She put on the shirt and skirt, looking out the window to check the clothes of those she saw down below her. She added a plain black cape and long socks, but she didn't have any shoes besides her own boots, which clashed with the outfit. Going barefoot would clash worse, so she wore them anyway.

It was hard to tell much from the people down below between the distance and the angle, but she felt, if not confident with her appearance, then at least close enough. Their clothes were uniform, white shirts and plain capes, so she didn't think she'd stand out too much. Certainly less than she would in a mistcloak.

She checked her appearance in a mounted mirror above the washbasin. She felt sore, but her reflection didn't show any marks or bruises. She started to comb her matted hair when she took back that conclusion. She had a mark, a big one on her left hand. It wasn't a scar or a tattoo, but a brand. She didn't recognize the symbols, but it looked almost like writing.

She stood with her back straight, prim posture like a noblewoman, and hid her left hand behind her cape. It looked … mostly natural. The skirt was much shorter than what she had seen and worn in Luthadel, but maybe the fashions were different in a world where the sky was blue and the plants were green. Yes, in Luthadel noblewomen didn't show anything above their ankles, but they wore daring necklines. Here, maybe they wore daring hemlines instead and buttoned their shirts up to their necks.

Before she left, she took her own clothes and mistcloak and stuffed them behind the dresser so if someone discovered that she had left, they would be looking for someone dressed in trousers.

She brought her daggers with her though, tucking them in the back of her skirt hidden by her cape. Lady Valette, because that was who she was impersonating right now, might not walk about armed, but that persona was only skin deep. Deep down, she was still Vin, and no matter how she dressed, walked, or talked, she always would be.

She glanced at her reflection one last time before leaving, and she went to find out where in the Lord Ruler's name she was.

WWW

Vin remembered the first and only ball she had attended in Venture keep, under those vaulting arches and stained glass windows. Where she found herself now was nothing like that. The building was noble of course; the beds alone were too good for skaa, the halls too clean. But right next to her room she found dozens of identical ones, all equally furnished. She waited outside the door before peeking in, listening for inhabitants, but each room was empty.

Hearing footsteps, she closed the door and adopted a noblewoman's posture, trying not to look out of place. A servant came around the corner in a black dress and white apron. Neither made direct eye contact; Vin didn't because the affairs of servants were beneath Lady Valette, and the servant didn't because she bought the whole facade.

Perfect. The servant recognized Vin's cape and skirt, so she didn't check her face. Hopefully everyone else would be as accepting.

She went down a stairwell to the ground floor. It wasn't enough that she be seen and ignored. She needed to overhear things, and if she was feeling bold, she needed to be able to direct a conversation.

She reached the bottom of the manor–no, the tower, she was in a tower surrounded by an outer wall–and stepped out onto a green field.

The people were dressed as she was, or close enough so she couldn't tell the difference, and the few members of the nobility who glanced her way didn't stop to stare. They were all about her age, some were standing, others were sitting at tables. The tables had plates with bits of food left over and half empty glasses of wine reminding her how hungry she was, but one thing that a noblewoman never was, was hungry. Lady Valette might feel peckish at times, but with three square meals a day, she was never desperate.

She focused on the nobility to distract herself. They were accompanied by a surprising number of pets. Cats and dogs scurried around their feet, and a number of the nobility had birds perched on their shoulders. And then there were creatures Vin didn't recognize, things she could only describe as monsters, like floating creatures made up of eyes and tentacles, or a lizard as big as a horse with its tail on fire.

None of the nobles paid the creatures much heed, though some stopped to scratch an animal behind the ears or stroke its head. They separated into cliques, though, and that at least was familiar. At the ball, the more powerful houses had more extravagant gowns; here, with everyone dressed alike, Vin had to go by more subtle cues, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Some stood while others sat, some spoke while others listened.

She wanted to hide, just like before her first ball, and there she had weeks of training for that precise social setting and Sazed watching over her. But … but if these people had wanted to hurt her, they could have done so while she was asleep. That didn't mean that she could trust them; no one took in an injured girl without wanting something in return, and Vin wanted to know what before she confronted them–if she confronted them.

It would be so much easier if she had metals. But she had survived as a simple skaa thief before, and she hadn't grown so dependent on Allomancy to be crippled without it.

As she considered what to do next, how to ingratiate herself into a group without anyone recognizing her as out of place, a garden caught her eye–a garden unlike any other. In Luthadel plants that weren't brown were rare and treasured, but this garden put them all to shame.

There was no hint of brown, and the plants grew into cup shaped patterns, their leaves in every color imaginable. Red as blood, golden yellow, blue, purple, and all of it before a backdrop of green. She knew she shouldn't gawk. Proper young ladies, Sazed had told her, didn't gawk, and Lady Valette would have seen such gardens before. But still ….

"The flowers are beautiful in the spring," came a voice from behind her, deliberate, interested. "But not half so beautiful as you."

She looked up and gave the newcomer, a blonde boy her age in a frilly shirt, and gave him a pleasant smile, but inside she was screaming. She had stood out, the exact opposite of what she wanted to do.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance." He held one of the strange plants in his hand, a narrow, stiff stem with layers of bright red leaves at the end. "I am Lord Guiche de Gramont. What may I call you?"

Well, there was only one thing to do. "Lady Valette Renoux. How kind of you to ask." Please go away.

"Lady Valette," he repeated, as though tasting the name. He bowed slightly, but Vin suspected that was just an excuse to eye the hemline of her skirt. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe you were enrolled last year."

Enrolled? "What makes you say that?"

"Why, because I would have seen you," he said, a self satisfied smile on his face. "And I never forget a pretty face."

Pretty face? Vin had seen her reflection, and there were plenty of girls more attractive than her. Was he flirting with her because she looked like an easy mark, lost and vulnerable, or did he suspect something? Well, if he suspected her, then her disguise was already lost.

"You flatter me, Lord Guiche. I'm sure a man of your standing has more important matters to attend to." She didn't know what his standing was, but he seemed self important enough to accept a compliment without question. But if he was intent on bothering her …. She nodded toward the main crowd. "They seem happy."

"Yes, why wouldn't they be? I suspect the celebrations may go on for the rest of the week."

Celebrations? She wished she had some brass to Soothe him into talkativeness. She could prod him verbally, but the wrong word could give her away. "That long?"

He nodded. "After that, they'll realize that all they summoned was an ordinary pet who still fails to understand the importance of the litter box." His eyes gleamed. "Not me, though. Behold my familiar! Rise, Verdandi!"

Vin jumped as the ground exploded at her feet, and brown creature with round, black eyes and claws nearly as long as her forearm appeared. Her heart raced and she found herself clutching one of the daggers behind her back, but Guiche fell to his knees and hugged the thing like an old friend.

"Ah, sweet Verdandi," he said. "Tell me, Valette, have you ever seen anything like him?"

Vin swallowed and let go of the dagger. "No." It was the first honest thing she said.

Guiche stood up and brushed dirt off his clothes. "What did you summon, if I may ask? I notice you didn't bring your familiar with you."

Vin looked down at the creature. With the shock worn off, it didn't look so intimidating, more like a giant mouse. With claws. Still, if Vin was expected to have a creature like that she certainly hadn't found it in that bedroom.

"I confess, my lord, my familiar is not as magnificent as yours." When in doubt, resort to flattery.

Guiche smiled. "Yes, he is quite impressive, isn't he? But no matter what you summoned, it can't be as bad as what Louise the Zero produced."

"Oh?" She needed to direct the conversation away from her. "And what was that?"

He looked up in surprise. "You haven't heard? I assumed that the story would have spread to everyone by now."

"Oh, I've heard conflicting accounts." Total ignorance would have been suspicious. "I wonder what really happened." She had no interest in aristocratic gossip or the creatures they called familiars, but as long as he wasn't asking about her, her disguise was safe.

"I know exactly what happened," he said. "She summoned hers on the same day I summoned dear Verdandi here, though not nearly with so majestic a result. She ended up with a common peasant girl. Yes, you heard me, a peasant. Half dead too, barely survived being sealed, as though even then the girl knew that being Louise's familiar was a fate worse than death." He gave a weak laugh. "Um, that sounded better in my head. But why are we talking about Louise? Tell me more about you."

Vin opened her mouth. And closed it again. Familiar? Like the Verdandi creature? That explained why she was here, almost. But how? How could she have been brought from the middle of Luthadel to this strange, green, beautiful world?

But she couldn't ask directly how a familiar was summoned. Lady Valette would already know that.

"What is this?" It was a new voice, feminine, sharp. "Why is it that whenever I turn my back on you for more than five minutes, Guiche, I always find you chatting up the nearest thing in a skirt?"

"What?" he said to the newcomer, a blond girl with long, spiralling hair. "I wasn't … this isn't … I must say, you look radiant today, Montmorency, and is that a new perfume I smell?"

"You think I'm joking when I talk about carving my name into your forehead, but I'm not!" The girl, Montmorency, grabbed him by the ear and dragged him away. "Now get over here and fawn over me in public. That's why I put up with you, remember?"

While Guiche was bigger than her and he didn't seem comfortable with the situation, he didn't fight back and neither seemed to think that the situation was unusual. Was this what was considered normal behavior for noblewomen? If so, Sazed's lessons were going to be woefully inadequate.

Still, even if she didn't have all the answers yet, at least she had some better questions. She stood out, but she didn't immediately arouse suspicion, and she was brought here by someone named Louise the Zero. What this Louise wanted with her or how she brought her to an entirely different world, she had no idea.

Louise herself would know, but Vin knew her disguise wouldn't work on her. She may have been responsible for healing her and could very well have saved her life, but that could mean that Louise was a kind person–don't be foolish, Reen's voice whispered–or she wanted something big from her.

Part of her wanted to run. When she was with Reen, they had always been traveling, never staying in one place long enough to get to know anyone, never long enough for people to get to know them. She could leave, exit through the main gate and find a road to (hopefully) a city where she could be completely anonymous. Dressed as a noblewoman, she didn't think anyone would stop her, but with no money and no metals, she wouldn't last long.

She could go back to her room and wait for Louise to show up, but depending on what she wanted from her, that could be agreeing to her terms.

A servant in a black dress and white apron carrying a tray full of dishes passed by her, nodding in respect as she hurried off. A servant … who would be expected to answer questions when a noblewoman asked them without asking any in return. If Vin could phrase the questions well enough to not make her suspicious ….

"Hold a moment, girl," she said. "I require a word with you."

The servant stopped. She had straight black hair and blue eyes, and she was surprisingly pretty. Skaa girls tried to look as plain as possible, and in Vin's experience the only thing worse than catching the eye of a fellow crew member was catching the eye of a nobleman. For a moment, she wasn't sure if the servant was actually skaa or just lesser nobility.

Either way, the girl's expression and posture accepted Vin as her superior. "Yes, your ladyship?"

"I need an unbiased opinion," she said, thinking quickly. "What do you know about familiars?"

"Familiars, your ladyship?" She shifted the weight of her tray. "Not much I'm afraid. Just the basics." Perfect. "They exist to serve the mage who summons them. The stronger ones can fight and protect their masters, but more often they act as eyes and ears."

So Louise expected her to be a servant. Well, that wasn't so bad. Vin had never been a servant to a noblewoman before, but it couldn't be worse than working for some of the crew leaders she had passed through. Still, after working with Kelsier, after becoming Mistborn, could she go back to the girl she was before?

No. What Kelsier had given her would be a part of her for the rest of her life. Assuming that she could get her hands on the Allomantic metals again.

"Very good," Vin said. "And you understand how familiars arrive here, correct?"

The servant nodded. "Oh, yes your ladyship. I saw some of the summoning ritual last week."

Vin waited for her to elaborate, but the servant said nothing more. Lord Ruler, it was frustrating! There was a ritual? She forced herself to smile with the self-assured calm of nobility. "And you know where those familiars were beforehand, yes?"

The servant frowned, growing uneasy. "I thought they were from everywhere, weren't they? Forgive me, I'm no expert, but many of the creatures that have been summoned aren't native to Tristain."

Tristain? Was that the name of where she was? Well, that was something, but was Tristain the name of the immediate area or a broader geography? For all she knew, Tristain was the name of the world and the people here brought creatures from beyond all the time. It was a tidbit, and eventually all the tidbits would form a whole picture. If Vin didn't strangle everyone to death beforehand.

"May I ask what you wanted my opinion on?" the servant asked. She sounded polite and timid, but she had other duties.

"Of course," Vin said. It didn't matter what she asked. She already got enough information from the girl already, and asking too many questions from one person would give that person too much of an idea of what she needed to know. "In your unbiased opinion, knowing what you do about familiars, what would be ideal?"

The servant looked from side to side. "Ideal, your ladyship? Is that a trick question? I thought all familiars were ideal, selected and given by the Founder, aren't they? Some might be stronger than others, but even the Headmaster's mouse is perfectly suited to him in its own way." She smiled slightly. "This year, someone even summoned a …." She trailed off, then she let out a yelp, dropping the tray with a clatter. "You! You're her! You're the … oh Founder!"

Bloody hell. Should she run? Could she? "Look, I need you to calm down and not draw attention to yourself." She looked over her shoulder and saw some nobles watching them with vague interest and some servants watching with slight concern.

"But … but every time I cleaned that room, you were lying in bed. What are you doing up? Why are you dressed like a noblewoman?"

"Look, I can explain. I can explain everything, but first I need you to understand something."

"Yes?"

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You … don't want to hurt me?"

"No. Not in the least." With her body still sore from her injuries, no metal, and a crowd of people watching her, hurting the servant was the last thing she wanted to do, but hopefully the girl wouldn't call her bluff.

"Good," she said finally. She swallowed. "I, um, I don't want you to hurt me either." She knelt down and gathered dishes back into the tray. Should Vin help? It might help build goodwill, but it would also arouse suspicion from everyone watching.

"I woke up today," Vin explained, "and I found myself in a room I've never seen before. Supposedly I'm expected to be a familiar for someone named Louise."

"And you thought the best thing to do was to dress up like a noblewoman?"

Vin didn't answer. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, and she would only get in trouble if she got caught. Which she had, putting herself in this girl's power. Idiot! On the bright side, the servant might want to extort her instead of turn her in.

"What would you do," Vin asked, "in my position?"

The servant stood up, tray in hand. "I don't know. Probably just wait until someone told me what was going on. I'd be less likely to get in trouble that way. My name's Siesta, by the way. What's yours?"

She seemed more at ease now that she knew she wasn't speaking with a noblewoman. "Vin. And after finding out that you were supposed to be someone's familiar?"

Siesta smiled. "Again, I don't know. You're the only human familiar I've ever heard of, but I can't imagine that your responsibilities would be that different from mine, only you'd be in the service of a single noble instead of the whole academy. A lot of work, but I've never minded work."

"And if you had to run away? Where would you go?" The skaa underground was spread across the entire Central Dominance at least, and that was how she and Reen had traveled freely growing up. There had to be something similar here.

Siesta's eyes widened. "Do you want to?"

"I …." Did she? "I don't like feeling trapped."

Siesta nodded. "Well, if you need to, my uncle owns a tavern in the city. He takes in girls like you with nowhere to go. I could give you directions, if you like."

The city … you could get lost in the city, forgotten. There, Vin's stunt of impersonating a noblewoman wouldn't follow her. "What's the catch?"

"The catch? Well, you'd have to work as a barmaid, I suppose. I don't think I could do it, but my cousin does, and she tells me the money's good if you know what you're doing."

Barmaids got paid? In the Final Empire, only skilled skaa craftsmen like Clubs got paid. Maybe Siesta really was part of the lesser nobility.

Siesta hesitated before speaking again. "Have you, um, met the mage who summoned you?"

Mage? That seemed like another word for noble. "No. I heard she was called Louise the Zero. Can you tell me anything about her?"

Siesta frowned. "If I remember right, she's a daughter of Duke Valliere, and Valliere is one of the most powerful houses in Tristain. I've never spoken to her personally, of course, but …." She bit her lip.

"But what?"

"But you really should at least talk to her before you decide to leave or not."

Vin narrowed her eyes. "Why is that?"

"Don't get me wrong! If you want to leave, I won't stop you. I'll even help you, but if a mage loses her familiar, even a human one, well, it would be a mark of great shame."

Vin nodded. "You think she'd come looking for me?"

"Looking for you? Well, I don't know how she would find you, but she might. No, that's not the problem, but if you left, she would … feel bad."

"She'd feel bad," Vin repeated flatly.

"Terrible."

Vin didn't hate the nobility, not like Kelsier. He would gladly kill a nobleman; he would gladly kill a nobleman's skaa guards for supporting their own oppression. But most of the beatings Vin had suffered had come from other skaa like her brother Reen or other crewmembers. Still, if this Louise girl had steady meals and a place to sleep, then Vin had trouble feeling sympathy for her no matter how "bad" Vin made her feel.

But the fact that Louise's feelings made up Siesta's argument struck Vin as alien as the green plants and the yellow sun. Nobles were feared by some, hated by others, but pitied? Who even had pity at all? Reen certainly hadn't, and day after day he had tried to beat hers out of her. Kelsier hadn't. He was the first good man Vin had ever met, but when it came to nobility, he was completely devoid of mercy.

Still, the fact that such a thing as pity could be expected of a stranger for a stranger told Vin that she knew even less of this world than she thought she had.

"Is there anything else?"

"She saved your life," Siesta said. "When she summoned you, you were hurt badly. No one knew if you were going to live at all, but Louise spent a small fortune on an elixir to heal your wounds, and she let you sleep in her own bed until you recovered."

"Because … if I died it would be a mark of shame for her?"

"Um, maybe. I'm not sure it would be as bad as if you ran away, but if you died she could have just summoned something else. It would have certainly been cheaper."

Vin frowned, not sure how to react. In the thieving crews she had passed through, no one spent money on the injured. Those were left behind, abandoned.

Abandoned.

Anyone will betray you, Vin. Everyone will abandon you. Reen told her that. He had abandoned her himself to teach her that.

But Vin hadn't learned that lesson, not completely. Sometimes she wished she had.

She would stay. Maybe not forever, maybe not even for very long. But the world was new, Vin didn't know anyone here … and she owed the girl who saved her life. Later though, after she had a better idea of how things worked, after she had her metals again? Well, she'd decide then.

WWW

Louise trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. Whatever sympathy she had gained from summoning history's most pathetic familiar had worn off, and her classmates had resumed making their snide comments, old jokes, and had even come up with some new ones.

It was sad to see what passed for wit these days. The quip about the ladder was barely even coherent, let alone clever.

It was also sad that the comatose commoner in her bed was the best company she'd expect to have during the entire school year; her familiar was a great listener and didn't gossip, exactly what Louise wanted out of a friend. Or a wall.

As she opened the door to her bedroom, she wanted nothing more than to plop down in her bed and take a nap, but her bed had been occupied for the past few days. There was room enough for two, five if Louise lost all sense of personal space–and yet, with the condition her familiar was in, she might die in her sleep. Louise had no intention of waking up next to a corpse, thank you very much. But really, if her familiar were to die after all the time, work, and money Louise spent to help her recover, she was going to murder ….

Her bed was empty. Empty, made, looking like it hadn't been slept in, with no sign of her familiar. Louise looked around the room, under the bed, in the armoire, and was about to go down the hall to check if anyone had seen her when she saw her standing next to her desk as still as a tree and making half as much noise.

Louise let out a yelp and dropped her books. She could have sworn that her eyes had passed over that spot at least once without seeing anyone, but there her familiar was, up and dressed in a shirt and trousers, neither of which looked new or feminine. She didn't laugh at Louise's less than dignified reaction, she didn't even smile. She only stared at the floor with her head bowed, waiting for Louise to make the first move.

She wasn't very tall, Louise realized, seeing her standing up for the first time. She was taller than Louise, but only barely. Her hair was short and black, her eyes … sharp. Surprisingly sharp, as though she were watching everything while looking at nothing.

Louise cleared her throat. She had read several books on the importance of the first impression with one's familiar and how to establish oneself as the master, and in the past few days she had forgotten every word. "You're up."

Her familiar nodded, and her eyes flickered up to hers for half an instant without answering, not that it was a question.

"What's your name?"

"Vin."

Mouthy little peasant. She might as well have summoned a commoner version of Tabitha. Vin stood tense, like a coiled snake. Or like a rabbit watching said snake. Why? What would make her so … oh, right. The near-death experience.

"You were hurt pretty badly when you arrived. What happened?"

Vin hesitated. "Monster."

Oh, don't elaborate. I didn't want to know anyway. "Well, there aren't any monsters here. There's a fire breathing lizard down the hall, but he's harmless. And Tabitha's dragon hasn't eaten anyone, so she probably never will, and … and you have nothing to worry about."

Did Vin relax after her reassurance? If she did, Louise couldn't tell.

"By the way, I'm your master."

Vin nodded. Maybe it wasn't the most impressive declaration a mage could make to her familiar, but Vin seemed to accept it.

"And you're my familiar." Again, she nodded. "So you have to do what I say." Louise glanced towards her bed. "I'll come up with some duties for you. Later. I'm going to take a nap now. I haven't slept well in the past few days. That's your fault, by the way."

If Vin felt bad for inconveniencing her master, she gave no sign, so Louise gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed that she was devastated. She plopped down on her bed. Founder, she was tired.

WWW

You know, If I spend ten pages just of Vin getting up and wandering around, this story will never get anywhere. Oh well. The next chapter will have an actual progression of time, and who knows? Vin might actually get her hands on some atium. Or pewter. Yeah, the second one seems a lot more feasible.

Thank you for your reviews, to the excellent, wonderful, remarkably good-looking people who left them, and thank you again to Magery and Stone Mason for editing this chapter. If you have any insults, bad jokes, or snide remarks, please keep them to yourself, but if you have any questions, comments, or unadulterated praise, I'd be happy to hear them.

Th-th-that's all, folks! Now on to chapter three!