Vin stood, watching Elend in the cold lantern-light of the cavern. She hated seeing such regret, such . . . disillusionment in him. In a way, his current problems seemed even worse than the self-doubt he had once struggled with. He seemed to see himself as a failure despite what he had accomplished.
And yet, he didn't let himself wallow in that failure. He moved on, working despite his regret. He was a harder man than he had once been. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The old Elend had been a man who was easily dismissed by many—a genius who had wonderful ideas, but little ability to lead. Still, she missed some of what was gone. The simple idealism. Elend was still an optimist, and he was still a scholar, but both attributes seemed tempered by what he had been forced to endure.
She watched him move along one of the storage shelves, trailing a finger in the dust. He brought the finger up, looking at it 1for a moment, then snapped it, throwing a small burst of dust into the air. The beard made him look more rugged—like the wartime commander he had become. A year of solid training with Allomancy and the sword had strengthened his body, and he'd needed to get his uniforms retailored to fit properly. The one he wore now was still stained from battle.
"This place is amazing, isn't it?" Elend asked.
Vin turned, glancing into the darkness of the storage cavern. "I suppose."
"He knew, Vin," Elend said. "The Lord Ruler. He suspected that this day would come—a day when the mists returned and food would be scarce. So, he prepared these supply depots."
Vin joined Elend beside a shelf. She knew from previous caverns that the food would still be good, much of it processed in one of the Lord Ruler's canneries, and would remain so for years in storage. The amount in this cavern could feed the town above for years. Unfortunately, Vin and Elend had more to worry about than a single town.
"Imagine the effort this must have taken," Elend said, turning over a can of stewed beef in his hand. "He would have had to rotate this food every few years, constantly packing and storing new supplies. And he did it for centuries, without anyone knowing what he was doing."
Vin shrugged. "It's not so hard to keep secrets when you're a god-emperor with a fanatical priesthood."
"Yes, but the effort . . . the sheer scope of it all . . ." Elend paused, looking at Vin. "You know what this means?"
"What?"
"The Lord Ruler thought it could be beaten. The Deepness, the thing that we released. The Lord Ruler thought he could eventually win."
Vin snorted. "It doesn't have to mean that, Elend."
"Then why go through all of this? He must have thought that fighting wasn't hopeless."
"People struggle, Elend. Even a dying beast will still keep fighting, will do anything to stay alive."
"You have to admit that these caverns are a good sign, though," Elend said.
"A good sign?" Vin asked quietly, stepping closer. "Elend, I know you're just trying to find hope in all this, but I have trouble seeing 'good signs' anywhere lately. You have to admit now that the sun is getting darker. Redder. It's even worse down here, in the South."
"Actually," Elend said, "I doubt that the sun has changed at all. It must be all the smoke and ash in the air."
"Which is another problem," Vin said. "The ash falls almost perpetually now. People are having trouble keeping it out of their streets. It blots out the light, making everything darker. Even if the mists don't kill off next year's crops, the ash will. Two winters ago—when we fought the koloss at Luthadel—was the first I'd seen snow in the Central Dominance, and this last winter was even worse. These aren't things we can fight, Elend, no matter how big our army!"
"What do you expect me to do, Vin?" Elend asked, slamming his can of stew down on the shelf. "The koloss are gathering in the Outer Dominances. If we don't build our defenses, our people won't last long enough to starve."
Vin shook her head. "Armies are short-term. This," she said, sweeping her hand across the cavern. "This is short-term. What are we doing here?"
"We're survivi1ng. Kelsier said—"
"Kelsier is dead, Elend!" Vin snapped. "Am I the only one who sees the irony in that? We call him the Survivor, but he is the one who didn't survive! He let himself become a martyr. He committed suicide. How is that surviving?"
She stood for a moment, looking at Elend, breathing deeply. He stared back, apparently undaunted by her outburst.
What am I doing? Vin thought. I was just thinking about how much I admired Elend's hope. Why argue with him now?
They were stretched so thin. Both of them.
"I don't have answers for you, Vin," Elend said in the dark cavern. "I can't even begin to understand how to fight something like the mist. Armies, however, I can deal with. Or, at least, I'm learning how."
"I'm sorry," Vin said, turning away. "I didn't mean to argue again. It's just so frustrating."
"We're making progress," Elend said. "We'll find a way, Vin. We'll survive."
"Do you really think we can do it?" Vin asked, turning to look him in the eyes.