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Chapter Twenty-Four Part One

In this chapter, Vin drinks from a cup someone hands her. It’s a very small point–and, since she’s been going to balls and the like, I’m sure she’s done it before. Yet, I wanted to give a kind of metaphoric nod to how far she’s come by having her pause, look at the cup, then drink.

If you hate Spook’s dialect, I apologize for this chapter. This is the place in the book where I spent the most time on it. I really like some of the phrases here–I tried to make the dialect focus on rhythm and sounds, making it alliterative and interesting simply to say out-loud. In case you need it, here’s a loose translation of the exchange in this chapter:

Spook: “It’s not nice to play with people like that.”
Kelsier: “Oh, don’t worry about what he does to you. He’s not worth your concern.”
Spook: “You’re probably right.”
Breeze: “What are you two babbling about?”
Spook: “He wants to be clever. He pushes people around because he wants to prove that he is clever.”
Kelsier “He’s always been like that.”
Ham “He’s insecure. I think he worries that he’s really not that clever.”

I don’t know if you remember the scene where Vin sat outside this same room, crouching in the darkness, looking in at the laughter and the warmth. I loved putting that scene in, however, because I knew I was going to eventually have this scene–where Vin could reflect on how far she’s come.

Things are going to start picking up in the novel from here out. We haven’t hit the infamous “Brandon avalanche” yet, but the pacing will increase from here to the end. So, I wanted to have this more light-hearted, relaxing scene as kind of a calm before the storm.

Also, I like to laugh. MISTBORN, as a series, hasn’t given me as much opportunity to have friendly banter as some of my earlier books. It’s more dark, and more intense. However, I did want to fit in what I could. That makes this one of my favorite scenes in the book.