Page 151 of The Well of Ascension

Ham walked up, joining Elend beside the well. “Coincidence?”

“Hardly,” Elend said, gripping the edge if the well with frustrated fingers. “The question is, which one poisoned it?”

“Cett just came into the city,” Ham said, rubbing his chin. “Would have been easy to send out some soldiers to covertly drop in the poison.”

“Seems more like something my father would do,” Elend said. “Something to increase our tension, to get back at us for playing him for a fool in his camp. Plus, he’s got that Mistborn who could have easily placed the poison.”

Of course, Cett had had this same thing happen to him—Breeze poisoning his water supply back before he reached the city. Elend ground his teeth. There was really no way to know which one was behind the attack.

Either way, the poisoned wells meant trouble. There were others in the city, of course, but they were just as vulnerable. The people might have to start relying on the river for their water, and it was far less healthy, its waters muddy and polluted by waste from both the army camps and the city itself.

“Set guards around these wells,” Elend said, waving a hand. “Board them up, post warnings, and then tell the healers to watch with particular care for other outbreaks.”

We just keep getting wound tighter and tighter,he thought as Ham nodded.At this rate, we’ll snap long before winter ends.

After a detour for a late dinner—where some talk about servants getting sick left her concerned—Vin went in and checked on Elend, who had just returned from walking the city with Ham. After that, Vin and OreSeur continued their original quest: that of finding Dockson.

They located him in the palace library. The room had once been Straff’s personal study; Elend seemed to find the room’s new purpose amusing for some reason.

Personally, Vin didn’t find the library’s location nearly as amusing as its contents. Or, rather, lack thereof. Though the room was lined with shelves, nearly all of them showed signs of having been pillaged by Elend. The rows of books lay pocked by forlorn empty spots, their companions taken away one by one, as if Elend were a predator, slowly whittling down a herd.

Vin smiled. It probably wouldn’t be too long before Elend had stolen every book in the small library, carrying the tomes up to his study, then forgetfully placing them in one of his piles—ostensibly for return. Still, there were a large number of volumes left—ledgers, books of figures, and notebooks on finances; things that Elend usually found of little interest.

Dockson sat at the library’s desk now, writing in a ledger. He noticed her arrival, and glanced over with a smile, but then turned back to his notations—apparently not wanting to lose his place. Vin waited for him to finish, OreSeur at her side.

Of all the members of the crew, Dockson seemed to have changed the most during the last year. She remembered her first impressions of him, back in Camon’s lair. Dockson had been Kelsier’s right-hand man, and the more “realistic” of the pair. And yet, there had always been an edge of humor to Dockson—a sense that he enjoyed his role as the straight man. He hadn’t foiled Kelsier so much as complemented him.

Kelsier was dead. Where did that leave Dockson? He wore a nobleman’s suit, as he always had—and of all the crewmembers, the suits seemed to fit him the best. If he shaved off the half beard, he could pass for a nobleman—not a rich high courtier, but a lord in early middle age who had lived his entire life trading goods beneath a great house master.

He wrote in his ledgers, but he had always done that. He still played the role of the responsible one in the crew. So, what was different? He was the same person, did the same things. He justfeltdifferent. The laughter was gone; the quiet enjoyment of the eccentricity in those around him. Without Kelsier, Dockson had somehow changed from temperate to…boring.

And that was what made her suspicious.

This has to be done,she thought, smiling at Dockson as he set down his pen and waved her to take a seat.

Vin sat down, OreSeur padding over to stand beside her chair. Dockson eyed the dog, shaking his head slightly. “That’s such a remarkably well-trained beast, Vin,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one quite like it….”

Does he know?Vin wondered with alarm.Would one kandra be able to recognize another in a dog’s body?No, that couldn’t be. Otherwise OreSeur could find the impostor for her. So, she simply smiled again, patting OreSeur’s head. “There is a trainer in the market. He teaches wolfhounds to be protective—to stay with young children and keep them out of danger.”

Dockson nodded. “So, any purpose to this visit?”

Vin shrugged. “We never chat anymore, Dox.”

Dockson sat back in his chair. “This might not be the best time for chatting. I have to prepare the royal finances to be taken over by someone else, should the vote go against Elend.”

Would a kandra be able to do the ledgers?Vin wondered.Yes. They’d have known—they’d have been prepared.

“I’m sorry,” Vin said. “I don’t mean to bother you, but Elend has been so busy lately, and Sazed has his project….”

“It’s all right,” Dockson said. “I can spare a few minutes. What’s on your mind?”

“Well, do you remember that conversation we had, back before the Collapse?”

Dockson frowned. “Which one?”

“You know…. The one about your childhood.”

“Oh,” Dockson said, nodding. “Yes, what about it?”

---