Contents
Chapter 43
Overview
At Yomen’s austere ball, Elend engineers a very public confrontation to occupy Yomen and his guards. Using the distraction, Vin identifies and evades two covert Allomancer tails on the patio, incapacitates them with a duralumin-fueled Brasspush, and slips into the basements to seek the storage cache.
The move escalates the contest for Fadrex from open siege to covert infiltration, testing Elend’s political agility and Vin’s stealth under Yomen’s careful security.
Summary
Vin and Elend arrive at the Canton of Resource for Yomen’s ball, aware they are being shadowed by a Mistborn in the mists. Inside, their simple plan is set: Elend will draw attention; Vin will infiltrate the lower levels to find the rumored storage cache.
Surveying the crowded, repurposed ballroom and noting several stairways downward, Vin realizes Yomen’s security is subtle. Burning bronze, she detects two inconspicuous female Allomancers—one with copper, one with tin—shadowing her within earshot. To shake them, she enlists Slowswift to send two trusted young men to a secluded patio and to delay Elend’s distraction.
On the misty patio, Vin waits, projecting nonchalance until Elend’s commotion pulls others away. When the moment comes, she launches across the patio and hits both women with a duralumin-enhanced Brasspush, crushing their emotions. She swiftly incapacitates them physically, instructs Slowswift’s men to hide the bodies and misdirect inquiries, sheds her dress to reveal dark infiltration clothes, and heads for a stairwell.
Meanwhile in the ballroom, Elend confronts Yomen, proposing a duel or champion combat to stall for time. Yomen refuses, claiming legality and honor and denying he has a Mistborn, while Elend keeps him engaged with shifting arguments about rule, koloss control, and noble loyalty. The spectacle occupies the room and guards, giving Vin her window.
With the watchers neutralized and the host preoccupied, Vin slips into the basement corridors to begin her search for the cache as Elend sustains the public distraction.
Who Appears
- VinMistborn infiltrator; identifies and evades covert Allomancer tails, incapacitates them, and descends into the Canton basement to find the cache.
- Elend VentureEmperor; publicly confronts Yomen to create a prolonged distraction, debating honor, koloss, and loyalty to buy Vin time.
- King YomenFadrex ruler; hosts the ball, refuses Elend’s duel proposal, denies having a Mistborn, focuses security around himself.
- Yomen’s tin-burning spyInconspicuous noblewoman tail; uses tin to overhear Vin, is emotionally crushed and knocked unconscious on the patio.
- Yomen’s copper-burning spyCovert tail maintaining a coppercloud; is neutralized by Vin’s duralumin Brasspush and rendered unconscious.
- SlowswiftElderly noble; quietly aids Vin by dispatching two trusted young men and relaying timing to Elend.
- Slowswift’s young menAllies recruited by Vin; hide the incapacitated spies and provide cover on the patio.
- Yomen’s MistbornShadowy tail in the mists before the ball; does not engage inside during the distraction.