Contents
Chapter 39
Overview
TenSoon abandons kandra complacency, recalling the First Contract’s concrete instructions for the world’s end. He recovers and implants OreSeur’s Blessing of Potency spikes, becoming far stronger. Concluding that the “Father” is dead, TenSoon resolves to seek Vin instead, setting out in his wolfhound form to serve the Contract’s intent.
Summary
Amid worsening ashfalls, TenSoon reflects on the kandra Homeland’s complacency and the erosion of the original purpose behind the First Contract, Trust, and Resolution. He contrasts ceremonial obedience with the Contract’s intended concrete actions for when the world begins to fall, fearing his people now avoid the sacrifices those actions require.
Traversing an ash-choked landscape in his wolfhound form—a body he relishes for its freedom—TenSoon locates a rocky hollow he visited a year earlier. There he unearths two polished iron spikes taken from OreSeur, restoring the Blessing of Potency alongside his Blessing of Presence. He implants the Hemalurgic spikes, acknowledging that each spike required a death and that kandra sentience arises from a single Blessing, with additional Blessings granting distinct powers.
Empowered, TenSoon notes the Potency’s pewterlike strength without the need for metals and recognizes that some kandra have murdered to accumulate more Blessings. He recalls that the Lord Ruler once supplied spikes for new generations, underscoring the kandra’s fraught origins and dependence on Hemalurgy.
Finally, TenSoon turns east. The First Contract mandates serving the Father at the world’s end, but with the Father dead, TenSoon chooses the next best course: seek Vin. Interpreting the Contract’s spirit over its letter, he sets out to find her, determined to act decisively while others hide.
Who Appears
- TenSoonKandra protagonist; rejects Homeland complacency, restores Blessing of Potency with OreSeur’s spikes, and sets out to find Vin.
- VinSought by TenSoon as the one to serve in place of the dead Father per the First Contract.
- OreSeurDeceased kandra whose iron spikes provide TenSoon’s restored Blessing of Potency.
- The Lord Ruler (the Father)Revered by kandra; formerly supplied spikes; now dead, forcing reinterpretation of the First Contract.
- RuinImminent cosmic threat whose return activates the kandra First Contract’s directives.
- First and Second Generations (kandra)Leaders embodying entrenched complacency, favoring ceremony over the Contract’s intended actions.