“Then you and Edwarn shouldn’t have vanished.”
“We had to go into hiding,” she said. “Did Harmony tell you what happened to our parents?”
“It was … an accident…”
“It was agents of Harmony, trying to get to me. Did Harmony ever admit that to you?” She strolled past him. “No, I expect not, based on your expression.”
Don’t let her play you, Wax. Get information. “I know your bomb’s delivery mechanism doesn’t work, Telsin. I am going to track it down and stop it. Maybe you should be the one planning to hide in the Roughs. Better, maybe you should be asking me for help. If Autonomy has an army ready to strike, then we should be figuring out how to fight it together.”
Telsin stopped at the edge of the building, elbows on the stone railing, contemplative. “It’s pretty, don’t you think? A city of the future. All symmetrical, like a perfect face. A beauty without blemish.”
“Telsin,” Wax said, stepping up to her.
“Oh, stop with the gritty constable growl, Wax,” she said. “You see this city? Six years under my direction, and it’s doing far better than Elendel. You have to admit we’ve been too sheltered. The Malwish are beyond us, and you haven’t even seen what other planets are capable of doing. We’re so far behind. We’re vulnerable.”
“I don’t see how blowing up the capital is going to change that, Telsin.”
“Because you’ve always lacked vision, Wax,” she said. “When something truly expansive lies before you, instead of comprehending it, you run.”
Wax kept his distance. “Why did you come to see me, Telsin?” he asked. “What is this really about?”
“Sibling affection?” she said. Then smiled as he gave her a flat glance in response. “I simply want you gone. Out of the equation. You interfering is bad. Even when you inevitably fail.”
Her brother showing up to ruin things is bad, he thought. Telsin glanced away again, but he sensed a tension in her posture. She was legitimately worried that her plans wouldn’t come together — that Autonomy would simply send in her armies.
Can’t have your own family ruining your masterful plans. It makes you look bad in front of the dark god deciding whether or not to destroy you.
“You can’t actually think,” he said, “that you can bully me into leaving a case.”
“I suppose not,” she said softly. “But I wanted to try.”
Yeah, she’s worried. Telsin knew him, but he knew her equally well. Perhaps Harmony was right in suggesting Wax talk to her. The sharpened sword cut cleanest, and Wax had spent a lifetime sharpening this particular blade.
“Do you remember back in the Village,” he said to her, “when you wanted your own room?”
“Father always said it was appropriate for us,” she said, “because of our lineage. We shouldn’t have to share.”
“You planted stolen cash on your own cousin to achieve it. And even that wasn’t your end goal — you wanted to live alone so that you could sneak out. Everything is a power play for you.”
“Because I’m willing to step up,” she said. “And take charge. Like I took over our house when our parents died. Like I’m taking over this planet. It will happen, Wax. I’m merely sad that I’ll have to cut through you to accomplish it.”
Wax met her gaze. And he realized something profound.
He couldn’t see anything familial in this person.
Familiar, yes. But whatever he had loved was long gone, ripped out and replaced with expansions of the parts of her he’d always hated.
“Last chance, Wax,” she said, holding his eyes. “Go back to the Roughs. With Elendel gone, those people out there are going to need someone to help guide and protect them. You can be that person. This is too big for you. You know it is.”
Wax opened his mouth to object. To explain that yes, he had run once. He’d been overwhelmed by politics, society, expectations. He’d wanted adventure, dreamed of it in the Roughs — but more, he’d wanted a place where one man could make an easy difference. Where things felt simpler.
He cut himself off, realizing something crucial. She was wrong about him.
He’d changed. He’d become someone new, someone who had grown beyond his fears. But she didn’t realize it. She didn’t know about Lessie. Didn’t understand the depth of his friendship with Wayne. Didn’t know of his love for Steris, the reason he’d taken Harmony’s offer to return from death and try again.
She didn’t know him. But she thought she did.
Rusts. For the first time in his life, he had an advantage over her. Telsin, by marinating in her own ambitions for years, had become an extreme version of the woman he knew. She’d continued on exactly the path he’d worried about since her youth. But he’d deviated. He’d grown. He’d changed.
“I might not be able to fix things in Elendel,” he found himself saying. “I might not grasp everything that’s happening with you and Autonomy. But stopping a bomb is something I can solve. Something I will solve.”
She sighed, seeing only the dogged lawman. Her little brother and his fantasies.
“You have no idea…” she whispered, looking away. “You can’t stop this, Wax. Even if you did find the bomb, there are redundancies upon redundancies to make sure that Autonomy gets what she wants. We need to prove ourselves. And I’m going to do that.”
Redundancies. What did she mean by that? It didn’t sound like the army Autonomy was supposedly sending. Were there other, internal pressures? Rivals? He took a guess.
“Gave Entrone,” he said, “is trying to overtake you. Seize your position.”
“Entrone is a coward,” she said. “He won’t move against me. Wax, you’re not half as smart as you think you are.”
He might not see it all, true — but if Entrone was a coward, then maybe Wax was interrogating the wrong person. He doubted he could break Telsin. But clearly there was someone else who knew these plans.
So, I get Entrone to break, he thought.
“You ever stand up someplace high,” Telsin said, “and feel the irresistible urge to throw yourself off?”
“No,” Wax said, frowning. “If I want to, I jump. If I don’t, I don’t.”
“The curse of Steelpushing,” she said, staring out over the city. “You can’t feel it. The call to do something dramatic, drastic, impressive.”
“The urge to kill yourself on a whim?” Wax asked, baffled.
“The opportunity to be afraid,” she whispered. “To do something thrilling and new. You know, I resisted getting the spikes for Steelpushing and Ironpulling? I didn’t want to lose my nervousness around heights. Then I found new fears, new challenges, new ambitions.”
Wax nodded slowly. That was his Telsin. The woman who always pushed recklessly for more. More power. But also more experiences. More novelty. More control over others.
“There’s an entire cosmere out there,” she said to him. “Few ever see or know it. But I have a chance to. A real chance. I’m not going to let you take that from me. I’m telling you, Wax, I’m not going to pull my punches. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“And I’ll stop you. Whatever it takes.”
“Ever the moralist,” she said, glancing at him. “Standing so tall, pretending you see so high, when in reality you can barely grasp the problems you’re trying to fix. I’ve already solved them. Do you want to hear of Trell? Autonomy? What it means to be her avatar?”