Elend paused. Something had changed. She seemed to need him again. “Come with me, then. We’ll both go see him.”
Vin nodded, standing. She teetered just a bit, and Elend felt a spike of fear, but the determined look in her eyes wasn’t something he wanted to challenge. He put his arm around her, letting her lean on him as they walked to Sazed’s quarters. Elend paused to knock, but Vin simply pushed her way into the dark room, then wobbled and sat down on the floor just inside.
“I’ll … sit here,” she said.
Elend paused worriedly by her side, then raised his lamp and called toward the bedchamber. “Sazed!”
The Terrisman appeared a moment later, looking exhausted and wearing a white sleeping robe. He noticed Vin, blinked a few times, then disappeared into his chambers. He returned a moment later with a metalmind bracer strapped to his forearm and a bag of medical equipment.
“Now, Lady Vin,” Sazed said, setting the bag down. “What would Master Kelsier think, seeing you in this condition? You ruin more clothing in this manner, I think. …”
“This isn’t a time for levity, Sazed,” Elend said.
“I apologize, Your Majesty,” Sazed said, carefully cutting the clothing away from Vin’s shoulder. “However, if she is still conscious, then she isn’t in serious danger.” He peered closer at the wound, absently lifting clean cloths from his bag.
“You see?” Sazed asked. “This gash is deep, but the blade was deflected by the bone, and missed hitting any major vessels. Hold this here.” He pressed a cloth to the wound, and Elend put his hand on it. Vin sat with her eyes closed, resting back against the wall, blood dripping slowly from her chin. She seemed more exhausted than in pain.
Sazed took his knife and cut away the front of Vin’s shirt, exposing her wounded chest.
Elend paused. “Perhaps I should …”
“Stay,” Vin said. It wasn’t a plea, but a command. She raised her head, opening her eyes as Sazed tisked quietly at the wound, then got out a numbing agent and some needle and thread.
“Elend,” she said, “I need to tell you something.”
He paused. “All right.”
“I’ve realized something about Kelsier,” she said quietly. “I always focus on the wrong things, when it comes to him. It’s hard to forget the hours he spent training me to be an Allomancer. Yet, it wasn’t his ability to fight that made him great—it wasn’t his harshness or his brutality, or even his strength or his instincts.”
Elend frowned.
“Do you know what it was?” she asked.
He shook his head, still pressing the cloth against her shoulder.
“It was his ability to trust,” she said. “It was the way that he made good people into better people, the way that he inspired them. His crew worked because he had confidence in them—because he respected them. And, in return, they respected each other. Men like Breeze and Clubs became heroes because Kelsier had faith in them.”
She looked up at him, blinking tired eyes. “And you are far better at that than Kelsier ever was, Elend. He had to work at it. You do it instinctively, treating even weasels like Philen as if they were good and honorable men. It’s not naiveté, as some think. It’s what Kelsier had, only greater. He could have learned from you.”
“You give me too much credit,” he said.
She shook a tired head. Then she turned to Sazed.
“Sazed?” she asked.
“Yes, child?”
“Do you know any wedding ceremonies?”
Elend nearly dropped the cloth in shock.
“I know several,” Sazed said as he tended the wound. “Some two hundred, actually.”
“Which one is the shortest?” Vin asked.
Sazed pulled a stitch tight. “The people of Larsta only required a profession of love before a local priest. Simplicity was a tenet of their belief structure—a reaction, perhaps, to the traditions of the land they were banished from, which was known for its complex system of bureaucratic rules. It is a good religion, one that focused on simple beauty found in nature.”
Vin looked at Elend. Her face was bloody, her hair a mess.
“Now, see,” he said. “Vin, don’t you think that maybe this should wait until, you know—”
“Elend?” she interrupted. “I love you.”
He froze.
“Do you love me?” she asked.
This is insane. “Yes,” he said quietly.
Vin turned to Sazed, who was still working. “Well?”
Sazed looked up, fingers bloodied. “This is a very strange time for such an event, I think.”
Elend nodded in agreement.
“It’s just a little bit of blood,” Vin said tiredly. “I’m really all right, now that I’ve sat down.”
“Yes,” Sazed said, “but you seem somewhat distraught, Lady Vin. This isn’t a decision to be made lightly, under the influence of strong emotions.”
Vin smiled. “The decision to get married shouldn’t be made because of strong emotions?”
Sazed floundered. “That isn’t exactly what I meant. I’m simply not certain that you are fully in control of your faculties, Lady Vin.”
Vin shook her head. “I’m more in control than I have been for months. It’s time for me to stop hesitating, Sazed—time to stop worrying, time to accept my place in this crew. I know what I want, now. I love Elend. I don’t know what kind of time we’ll have together, but I want some, at least.”
Sazed sat for a moment, then returned to his sewing. “And you, Lord Elend? What are your thoughts?”
What were his thoughts? He remembered just the day before, when Vin had spoken of leaving, and the wrenching he had felt. He thought of how much he depended on her wisdom, and her bluntness, and her simple—but not simplistic—devotion to him. Yes, he did love her.
The world had gone chaotic recently. He had made mistakes. Yet, despite everything that had happened, and despite his frustrations, he still felt strongly that he wanted to be with Vin. It wasn’t the idyllic infatuation he’d felt a year and a half ago, at the parties. But it felt more solid.
“Yes, Sazed,” he said. “I do want to marry her. I have wanted it for some time. I … I don’t know what’s going to happen to the city, or my kingdom, but I want to be with Vin when it comes.”
Sazed continued to work. “Very well, then,” he finally said. “If it is my witness you require, then you have it.”
Elend knelt, still pressing the cloth on Vin’s shoulder, feeling a little bit stunned. “That’s it then?”
Sazed nodded. “It is as valid as any witness the obligators could give you, I think. Be warned, the Larsta love oath is binding. They knew no form of divorce in their culture. Do you accept my witness of this event?”
Vin nodded. Elend felt himself doing the same.
“Then you are married,” Sazed said, tying off his thread, then draping a cloth across Vin’s chest. “Hold this for a bit, Lady Vin, and stanch the rest of the bleeding.” Then he moved on to her cheek.
“I feel like there should be a ceremony or something,” Elend said.
“I could give one, if you wish,” Sazed said, “but I do not think you need one. I have known you both for some time, and am willing to give my blessing to this union. I simply offer counsel. Those who take lightly promises they make to those they love are people who find little lasting satisfaction in life. This is not an easy time in which to live. That does not mean that it has to be a difficult time to love, but it does mean that you will find unusual stresses upon your lives and your relationship.