PoV Vin

Kelsier wandered around the hideout, after insisting that Vin down at least two more mugs of pewter mixed water, in ten minutes he found five hidden compartments. He seems to be searching for something.

Whatever it is, he apparently found it, Vin heard him exaggeratedly exclaim an 'Ah-ha'.

Kelsier returned to the bar with a sheet of paper, a pen and an inkwell. Vin could see Kelsier draw a table on the paper, he wrote something rapidly and turned the paper towards Vin. And started talking.

"There are ten widely known Allomantic metals. Eight of them are called basic metals and last two are called higher metals. We will talk about higher metals later, they are a bit, hmmm, esoteric. Allomantic metals and their powers follow a few rules, but the first rule is, they come in pairs, a pure metal and its alloy, the pure metal always pulls and alloy always pushes. With me so far?", Kelsier asked.

Vin slowly nodded, it felt like it made sense, but she needed some clarification, "What does it mean, pulling and pushing?"

"Docks told me you Soothed him before, he is the one who told me where to find you. You understand what I am talking about?", Kelsier asked, Vin nodded, he is talking about her Luck, Kelsier continued, "You Pushed down on his emotions, making him less suspicious, easier to scam, that is mental Allomacy, you Burned Brass, probably from the trace amounts of it in the water you drank, to do it. First rule of practical Allomancy, never use Emotional Allomancy on Obligators, they are trained to recognize when their emotions are being manipulated. Brass is an alloy, its paired pure metal is Zinc, we can Burn it to Pull on emotions, enflaming them, that is called Roiting. Pewter, what you are Burning now, is an alloy of Tin, you are Burning Pewter to Push yourself internally, physically, it enhances your strength, speeds up your body's healing, dampens your pain. Tin is its complementary Pulling metal, it increases your senses. Then, there are Iron and Steel, Copper and Bronze."

Kelsier took out seven other small metal cases, and arranged them on the paper, alongside Pewter's case, each case beside the name of a metal on the table he drew. And said, "You will Burn a bit of each and I will explain what they do, except for Tin. As I said, Tin increases your senses, that includes your sense of pain. Not a good idea when you are injured, is it?"

At Vin's understanding nod, Kelsier smiled and said, "We will start with Zinc and Brass, since you already have some experience with Emotional Allomancy, their usage is external, since it affects others and not yourself."

Kelsier mixed just a pinch of them with water, in a small glass vial he took out and gave it to Vin. Vin downed the vial and looked inside herself, she could feel her Luck and something similar to it, a small lump of power, not even a fifth of Pewter's power, but many times greater than she ever had access to as Luck, Kelsier nodded at her and said, "Go ahead, use it on me."

Vin used her Luck and tried to lessen Kelsier's obvious good mood, a general smothering of multiple emotions, instead of targeting just one or two emotions as she usually did, the smile on his lips widened a bit and he nodded encouragingly, and said, "You tried to dampen my good mood. Go on, use the other one."

Vin did, Kelsier's smile widened even more and gained a quality of satisfaction. He started to say something, but he stopped and looked towards the door, with a look of focus on his face. Vin too turned sideways to look at the door, in half a minute Vin heard footsteps and a few more moments after that she could see Docks.

Kelsier heard the footsteps before me, is he Burning Tin then?

"Docks, are they coming then?", Kelsier called out cheerfully.

Docks drew nearer and said, "Yes, everyone you named, except for Marsh."

Kelsier's smile dimmed a bit, he nodded slowly and said, "I figured, I will get Marsh", he turned to Vin and said, "It seems I have a brother to wrangle. Why don't get yourself cleaned up, Vin, we should have a few hours before others start to trickle in", he gathered his metal cases and tucked them away, but not before pouring generously from Pewter and Copper cases into her mug and said to her, "Stir it well and keep them on a low Burn, Copper hides Allomancy, I have been Burning it since I came in, I will talk more about it later. Drink it quickly."

With that almost command Kelsier left the room.

"He does that", a dry voice said from beside her.

Vin tore her eyes away from the empty doorway Kelsier went through, and chastised herself, stop letting your guard down.

Vin drew herself in, drank from the mug, the lump of power from pewter increased and she Burned the new lump of power, Copper, and asked warily, "Does what?"

"Giving orders and expecting to be obeyed", Docks said wryly and continued, "I am Dockson, Vin. Docks for friends. Here take this", he proferred a cloth bag to her and said, "There some bandages and clean clothes in there, the clothes should fit you, if they don't, tell me, I will send for different ones."

Vin eyed the bag and but did not take it, and asked, "Why? Why is he really helping me?"

Dockson chuckled, sat down on the same table he had before, deposited the cloth bag in another chair and, said, "Allomancer thieving crews have always operated on more trust than regular thieving crews. Allomancy is passed down through blood. You can not be an Allomancer without having noble blood", Dockson locked eyes with her and asked softly, "So, what does it mean that there are Skaa allomancers?"

Vin's throat tightened and her lips dried, all of Reen's lessons hammered at her to keep her mouth shut, she pushed past it and whispered, "Half-breeds."

"Yes, Half-Breeds", Dockson nodded, "Who are not supposed to exist. Lord Ruler is generally far more lax with his nobles than with the Skaa, but the law against Half-Breeds is one law where he does not allow even his favoured noble families any wiggle room. It is Steel Inquisitors one of the primary duties to hunt down and kill half-breeds. And they are very good at it. Steel Inquisitors torture whichever Skaa allomancer they find for information. One caught Skaa allomancer can probably compromise many others, depending on how connected they were. A Skaa allomancer with a reputation for betrayal would not last in the Underground. As I said, Allomancer crews can not exist much less operate without trust."

Vin mulled over that answer, it made sense but it felt incomplete, so she asked since Dockson seemed to be unbothered by her questions, "But Kelsier is different, even from what you told."

Dockson laughed and answered, "Yes, he is. Kelsier gained his allomantic abilities relatively recently, just two years ago I believe. But since he was young he had an in with allomantic side of the Underground. Kell started out as a thief, he recruited me almost as soon as I stepped a foot in Luthadel, I was a freshly escaped plantation Skaa, and barely eighteen then, and Kelsier barely fourteen, Mare, a sixteen year old Tineye, joined us soon after, this was some twenty four years ago now. By time we were in our twenties we were the most infamous crew of thieves in Luthadel. And I can honestly say, that was entirely because of Kell. Everybody told him, that trust only goes so far, that there is no place for friendship and camaraderie in a thieving crew. Kell refused to believe that. He just refused," Dockson had a fond smile and a look of wonder in his eyes, as he shook his head, and continued, "Mare was much the same, eventually they married. They are my best friends. Others joined one by one, drawn in by Kelsier and Mare's conviction and charisma, many parted ways with us, not willing to really believe, but some stayed, some became friends. So, yes, Kelsier is different."

Friends, Vin thought, Reen scoffed in disgust in her mind, but she pushed it aside, Friends for twenty four years, is that possible? Really possible?

Vin looked at Dockson's face, all she saw there was honesty, Reen's voice cut in to her thoughts with an angry mutter, He is lying, this is a con.

What would be the point in lying about this? Vin argued back with Reen's voice.

Stupid girl, they just said you are Mistborn, you are potentially very powerful, they obviously want you, they are dangling friendship to snare you, to use you!, Reen's voice gave a scathing retort.

And is that not better than what I have now? Isn't pretend kindness and friendship better than obvious hate and exploitation?, Vin demanded in return and the voice faded away.

Vin returned her focus to Dockson and asked, "Where is Mare then?"

Dockson eyes flashed with sadness and he grew melancholy, sighing, he answered, "Three years ago we planned a job too audacious even for us, we tried to rob Kredik Shaw, rob Lord Ruler himself. Everything went fine, in the beginning, only Kelsier, Mare and two others actually entered the palace. Something went wrong, Lord Ruler and three Steel Inquisitors were waiting for them. Kelsier and Mare managed to buy enough time for the other two to escape, but Kell and Mare got caught. They were sent to Pits of Hathsin. We assumed someone betrayed us, some even said it was Mare who did it. But nobody knew for sure. Kell told me, a year in Pits of Hathsin, Mare was murdered by the guards of the Pits and Kelsier Snapped as Mistborn. Finally awakening his Allomancy and he used it to escape the Pits of Hathsin. According to Kell nobody betrayed us, his training as Mistborn answered the question of how they got caught to him."

"How did they get caught then?", Vin could not stop herself from asking, she did not know why.

"Kell did not tell me, I know of Allomancy as much as any non-Allomancer can, even so, Mistborn are incredibly rare, before Kelsier I did not know of any other Skaa Mistborn. Now, I know of two, including you", Dockson answered calmly, it is his calm that clued her in that Vin is on the edge of her seat, glaring at Dockson, the betrayal that was not a betrayal, I want to know the answer, so badly. Why?

Vin did not know why she was so invested in that answer. Vin gathered herself and relaxed as much she can, this Kelsier and Dockson seem to be able to draw out emotions she had been sure Reen beat out of her.

Twenty four years of friendship, a part of her whispered those words into her mind with so much longing.

Dockson eyed her and said with a soft smile, "Perhaps you will find out the answer for that question before I do, Kell offered to teach you after all, he is not one to do things half-way. Go, freshen up, Vin, others would start trickling in soon. Even with Burning Pewter, it would be best to bandage those lacerations, the risk of infection is too great, there is some rubbing alcohol in there to clean the wounds."

And Dockson once again gestured towards the cloth bag he brought in.

Vin decided to take it and retreated towards the hideout's sleeping quarters, wash-rooms are behind them.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

It took Vin barely five minutes to finishing bathing, even with several locked doors between them and Pewter Burning in her gut giving her increased strength and enhanced reflexes, a lifetime of experience insisted that she spend as little time as possible being vulnerable.

Applying the bandages took half an hour, it might have taken her longer if Pewter did not also increase her flexibility, but it did and she was experienced enough in taking care of her own wounds to do a passable job of it.

Vin retrieved her earring and put it on, the only thing she owned she cared enough to keep safe and returned to the hideouts common room, noting for the first time, that Camon's dead body is not there anymore, it has not been there for awhile, it had been there when Kelsier guided her to the stool at the bar, and it hadn't been there when Kelsier left, the splatter of blood and bone and brain matter is gone too. But she could still see the coin embedded in the wall.

How out of sorts am I, that I keep missing vital details, keep getting emotional?

Vin saw that the common room is more well lit than before and Dockson is at the same table with the silvery metal case on it and is doing, honest to Lord Ruler, paperwork, he had a small pocket sized book open in his hand and he is writing something on the first page of a loose sheaf of papers.

Vin took at a seat at the table, but not before walking behind Dockson and looking at what he is writing, it was mostly numbers, big numbers and abbreviated words.

As she sat down she saw an amused tilt to Dockson's lips as he continued to work, and flushed slightly, the man obviously knew what she did.

Curious, Vin asked, "What are you doing?"

"Hmm, Kelsier asked for an accounting of his assets, you see, I manage logistics for Kelsier, that means making sure the Crew has what it needs when we take on a job, since it's Kelsier, it is up-to me to make sure the money he earns is not frittered away on excesses. The job Kelsier is planning is going to cost a lot", Dockson answered distractedly.

"How much does he have?", Vin asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Roughly three million boxings, I do not have an exact number yet, only a third of it is liquid, remaining is tied up in businesses all over the Final Empire. And only half of what is liquid is even in Luthadel, it is going to be pain to get the remaining into the city and to liquidate assets to boxings, we will probably lose out on half a million boxings if I keep to Kelsier's insisted schedule of six months", Dockson muttered the answer, still focused on his work.

Three million boxings, Three MILLION BOXINGS, Oh, Lord Ruler, Vin felt her knees grow weak, she softly whispered, "He could live like a noble for the rest of his days."

Even though she whispered it, Dockson heard it all the same and gave a sardonic laugh in turn and said, "Vin, Kell could have done that after the second year since he began thieving. All three of use could have. Kell kept doing it because he liked it far too much, and he liked tweaking the nobility's noses even better. Mare kept doing it because she wanted to use the money to bring down the Final Empire, somehow. And I kept doing it because, well, because I do not have sense enough to say no to Kell's mad schemes."

And another thought struck Vin, Dockson had access to Three Million Boxings, for years, even if he was too afraid of Kelsier to steal from him while he was around, surely after Kelsier is sentenced to Pits of Hathsin, Dockson could have taken all of it for himself.

But he didn't. Why? Camon would have betrayed his own mother for three thousand boxings, much less Three Million Boxings. So why didn't Dockson do it?

Vin wanted to ask that question so much. So so much. But, she didn't, somehow, she is almost afraid of the answer to that question.

So, she remained silent.