And if there were ever a plan to be hesitant about, this was the one.
However, she was getting past the point where she questioned herself. She knew the reason she stayed in the crew. It wasn’t the plan; it was the people. She liked Kelsier. She liked Dockson, Breeze, and Ham. She even liked the strange little Spook and his crotchety uncle. This was a crew unlike any other she’d worked with.
Is that a good enough reason to let them get you killed? Reen’s voice asked.
Vin paused. She had been hearing his whispers in her mind less frequently lately, but they were still there. Reen’s teachings, drilled into her over sixteen years of life, could not be idly discarded.
Marsh arrived on the balcony a few moments later. He glanced at her with those hard eyes of his, then spoke. “Kelsier apparently expects me to spend the evening training you in Allomancy. Let us get started.”
Vin nodded.
Marsh eyed her, obviously expecting more of a response. Vin sat quietly. You’re not the only one who can be terse, friend.
“Very well,” Marsh said, sitting beside her, resting one arm on the balcony railing. His voice sounded a little less annoyed when he continued. “Kelsier says that you have spent very little time training with the internal mental abilities. Correct?”
Vin nodded again.
“I suspect that many full Mistborn neglect these powers,” Marsh said. “And that is a mistake. Bronze and copper may not be as flashy as other metals, but they can be very powerful in the hands of someone properly trained. The Inquisitors work through their manipulation of bronze, and the Misting underground survives because of its reliance upon copper.
“Of the two powers, bronze is by far the more subtle. I can teach you how to use it properly—if you practice what I show you, then you will have an advantage that many Mistborn dismiss.”
“But, don’t other Mistborn know to burn copper?” Vin asked. “What is the use of learning bronze if everyone you fight is immune to its powers?”
“I see that you already think like one of them,” Marsh said. “Not everyone is Mistborn, girl—in fact, very, very few people are. And, despite what your kind likes to think, normal Mistings can kill people too. Knowing that the man attacking you is a Thug rather than a Coinshot could very easily save your life.”
“All right,” Vin said.
“Bronze will also help you identify Mistborn,” Marsh said. “If you see someone using Allomancy when there is no Smoker nearby, and yet don’t sense them giving off Allomantic pulses, then you know that they are Mistborn—either that, or they’re an Inquisitor. In either case, you should run.”
Vin nodded silently, the wound in her side throbbing slightly.
“There are great advantages to burning bronze, rather than just running around with your copper on. True, you Smoke yourself by using copper—but in a way you also blind yourself. Copper makes you immune to having your emotions Pushed or Pulled.”
“But that’s a good thing.”
Marsh cocked his head slightly. “Oh? And what would be the greater advantage? Being immune to—but ignorant of—some Soother’s attentions? Or instead knowing—from your bronze—exactly which emotions he is trying to suppress?”
Vin paused. “You can see something that specific?”
Marsh nodded. “With care and practice, you can recognize very minute changes in your opponents’ Allomantic burnings. You can identify precisely which parts of a person’s emotions a Soother or Rioter intends to influence. You’ll also be able to tell when someone is flaring their metal. If you grow very skilled, you might even be able to tell when they’re running low on metals.”
Vin paused in thought.
“You begin to see the advantage,” Marsh said. “Good. Now burn bronze.”
Vin did so. Immediately, she felt two rhythmic thumpings in the air. The soundless pulses washed over her, like the beating of drums or the washings of ocean waves. They were mixed and muddled.
“What do you sense?” Marsh asked.
“I … think there are two different metals being burned. One’s coming from Kelsier down below; the other is coming from you.”
“Good,” Marsh said appreciatively. “You’ve practiced.”
“Not much,” Vin admitted.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Not much? You can already determine pulse origins. That takes practice.”
Vin shrugged. “It seems natural to me.”
Marsh was still for a moment. “Very well,” he eventually said. “Are the two pulses different?”
Vin concentrated, frowning.
“Close your eyes,” Marsh said. “Remove other distractions. Focus only on the Allomantic pulses.”
Vin did so. It wasn’t like hearing—not really. She had to concentrate to distinguish anything specific about the pulses. One felt … like it was beating against her. The other, in a strange sensation, felt like it was actually pulling her toward it with each beat.
“One’s a Pulling metal, isn’t it?” Vin asked, opening her eyes. “That one’s Kelsier. You’re Pushing.”
“Very good,” Marsh said. “He is burning iron, as I asked him to so that you could practice. I—of course—am burning bronze.”
“Do they all do that?” Vin asked. “Feel distinct, I mean?”
Marsh nodded. “You can tell a Pulling metal from a Pushing metal by the Allomantic signature. Actually, that’s how some of the metals were originally divided into their categories. It isn’t intuitive, for instance, that tin Pulls while pewter Pushes. I didn’t tell you to open your eyes.”
Vin shut them.
“Focus on the pulses,” Marsh said. “Try and distinguish their lengths. Can you tell the difference between them?”
Vin frowned. She focused as hard as she could, but her sense of the metals seemed … muddled. Fuzzy. After a few minutes, the lengths of the separate pulses still seemed the same to her.
“I can’t sense anything,” she said, dejected.
“Good,” Marsh said flatly. “It took me six months of practice to distinguish pulse lengths—if you’d done it on the first try, I’d have felt incompetent.”
Vin opened her eyes. “Why ask me to do it, then?”
“Because you need to practice. If you can tell Pulling metals from Pushing metals already … well, you apparently have talent. Perhaps as much talent as Kelsier has been bragging about.”
“What was I supposed to see, then?” Vin asked.
“Eventually, you’ll be able to sense two different pulse lengths. Internal metals, like bronze and copper, give off longer pulses than external metals, like iron and steel. Practice will also let you sense the three patterns within the pulses: one for the physical metals, one for the mental metals, and one for the two greater metals.
“Pulse length, metal group, and Push-Pull variance—once you know these three things, you will be able to tell exactly which metals your opponent is burning. A long pulse that beats against you and has a quick pattern will be pewter—the internal Pushing physical metal.”
“Why the names?” Vin asked. “External and internal?”
“Metals come in groups of four—or, at least, the lower eight do. Two external metals, two internal metals—one each that Pushes, one each that Pulls. With iron, you Pull on something outside of yourself, with steel you Push on something outside of yourself. With tin you Pull on something inside of yourself, with pewter you Push on something inside of yourself.”