Page 110 of The Well of Ascension

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Vin demanded quietly.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” Tindwyl asked.

“Because you’re mean to Elend,” Vin said. “Don’t deny it—I’ve listened in on your lessons. You spend the time insulting and disparaging him. But now you’re pretending to be nice.”

Tindwyl smiled. “I am not pretending, child.”

“Then why are you so mean to Elend?”

“The lad grew up as a pampered son of a great lord,” Tindwyl said. “Now that he’s king, he needs a little harsh truth, I think.” She paused, glancing down at Vin. “I sense that you’ve had quite enough of that in your life.”

The dressmaker approached with his swatches, spreading them out on a low table. “Now, my lady,” he said, tapping one group with a bent finger. “I think your coloring would look particularly good with dark cloth. A nice maroon, perhaps?”

“What about a black?” Vin asked.

“Heavens, no,” Tindwyl said. “Absolutely no more black or gray for you, child.”

“What about this one, then?” Vin asked, pulling out a royal blue swatch. It was nearly the shade she’d worn the first night she’d met Elend, so long ago.

“Ah, yes,” the dressmaker said. “That would look wonderful against that light skin and dark hair. Hum, yes. Now, we’ll have to pick a style. You need this by tomorrow evening, the Terriswoman said?”

Vin nodded.

“Ah, then. We’ll have to modify one of the stock dresses, but I think I have one in this color. We’ll have to take it in quite a bit, but we can work through the night for a beauty like yourself, can’t we, lad? Now, as for the style…”

“This is fine, I guess,” Vin said, looking down. The gown was the standard cut of those she’d worn at previous balls.

“Well, we’re not looking for ‘fine,’ now, are we?” the dressmaker said with a smile.

“What if we removed some of the pettiskirts?” Tindwyl said, pulling at the sides of Vin’s dress. “And perhaps raised the hem just a bit, so that she could move more freely?”

Vin paused. “You could do that?”

“Of course,” the dressmaker said. “The lad says thinner skirts are more popular to the south, though they tend to lag in fashion a bit behind Luthadel.” He paused. “Though, I don’t know that Luthadel even reallyhasa fashion anymore….”

“Make cuffs of the sleeves wide,” Tindwyl said. “And sew a couple of pockets into them for certain personal items.”

The old man nodded as his quiet assistant scribbled down the suggestion.

“The chest and waist can be tight,” Tindwyl continued, “but not restrictive. Lady Vin needs to be able to move freely.”

The old man paused. “Lady Vin?” he asked. He looked a little closer at Vin, squinting, then turned to his assistant. The boy nodded quietly.

“I see…” the man said, paling, hand shaking just a little bit more. He placed it on the top of his cane, as if to give himself a little more stability. “I’m…I’m sorry if I offended you, my lady. I didn’t know.”

Vin flushed again.Another reason why I shouldn’t go shopping.“No,” she said, reassuring the man. “It’s all right. You haven’t offended me.”

He relaxed slightly, and Vin noticed Spook strolling over.

“Looks like we’ve been found,” Spook said, nodding to the front windows.

Vin glanced past dressing dummies and bales of cloth to see a crowd gathering outside. Tindwyl watched Vin with curiosity.

Spook shook his head. “Why do you get to be so popular?”

“I killed their god,” Vin said quietly, ducking around a dressing dummy, hiding from the dozens of peeking eyes.

“I helped too,” Spook said. “I even got my nickname from Kelsier himself! But nobody cares about poor little Spook.”

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