Hoid's Happy Home for Wayward Souls

by Hanroq88Artor

Summary:

Ten years after a Cosmere-wide disaster, Hoid, Frost and Sazed run a foster home for special children from across the Cosmere.
Strange things are happening. Gods have been reborn and a storm is brewing.

Massive shoutout to alittleinsane on 17th Shard for giving the idea!!! There is a user with the same name on AO3 but idk if they're the same person

Notes:

There will be mostly no romance in this fic. The two oldest kids like each other, though. If I write a sequel it'll be about the kids getting older so I most probably will include a few crushes in there.

This fic has major spoilers for Rhythm of War. You gotta know all the main Cosmere stuff up until Wind and Truth to properly understand everything.
It's fine if you haven't read Wind and Truth, The Sunlit Man or the other Secret Projects. You just have to know what's happening by the end of RoW and stuff. Reading The Lost Metal also helps.

You won't believe how much I spoiled myself during the research for this fic. It is my labor of love. Hehehehe

Chapter 1: New Bridgeboy in Town

Kal awoke with a start as the road on which Ham was driving started to get a bit rocky. Ham craned his neck back and took a quick glance at Kal’s newly-awoken form. “You, uh-” he started. “You alright there, buddy?”

“Yeah,” Kal responded groggily. “I’m fine. You’re… you’re sure we’re going the right way?”

Ham’s concentration kept him silent for a few seconds. “Yeah,” he said eventually. To Kal, his yeah seemed dubious at best.

“This doesn’t seem like a road to a foster home,” Kal said.

“There aren’t many roads at all in Shadesmar,” Ham replied. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, if I recall correctly, this place wasn’t opened as a foster home at all, but something else entirely.”

“Something else entirely? Well, what was it opened as?”

“I’ll try my best to explain, but I’m not really sure,” Ham said. “There’s something special about you kids. Hoid and Sazed definitely see something special in you. I’m pretty sure the objective of this home is to give you a proper place to stay, and to train you in the Invested Arts.”

“Invested Arts?” Kal asked. “What do you mean?”

“Philosophically speaking,” Ham responded, “They’re a type of magic or art. Personally, I see them more as a science. You should go ask the white-haired guy about it when we get there. He knows a whole lot more about this than I do.”

Kal’s eyes shot wide open, and he sat up straight as a stick.

White-haired guy? The same white-haired guy who had told him about this foster home in the first place?

“White-haired guy?” he asked. “Funny white-haired guy who carries a flute around and likes to tell weird stories?”

“That’s the one,” Ham answered. “How do you know him?”

This time, Kal stayed silent for a few seconds. “I don’t really know,” he finally said. “He just feels familiar, like I used to know him, then forgot almost all about him.”

He opened the curtains to reveal the surreal landscape Ham was driving through. It was a wonder he could even drive through it, actually. The land was made of strange, purple rocks shaped like frozen sea-waves. The sky was dark as night, but a bleak little sun still hung ominously in the heavens. Not very carriage-friendly terrain at all.

“I feel like I remember this place too,” Kal said, “In just the same way as I remember Hoid.”

Soon enough, Ham said, “That’s interesting. Something strange is definitely happening. I really wish I could tell you what.”

Kal examined the strange metal carriage he was riding. Everything about it puzzled him. He wasn’t one to be interested much in science, but weird technology like this was still really interesting. “What is this carriage?” Kal asked. “I’ve never seen something like this before. It doesn’t even have any horses. How does it even run?”

“Beats me,” Ham said. “It’s called a ‘car’. I know how to run it, but I don’t really know how it works. I feel like I’m really close to understanding, though.”

Ham’s metal carriage crested a purple hill, making weird grumbly sounds as it farted out smoke from behind. Gradually, a gigantic building made of blue rock and silver metal emerged from the landscape. Parts of it blended in with the surroundings, the rest stuck out like a sore thumb. Grand spires with yellow-tinted windows and dark purple roofs jutted out from the ground, reaching out high into the sky. Kal’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. It was the biggest building he’d seen in his life.

“This is it,” Ham said proudly. “Hoid’s Happy Home for Wayward Souls.”

“It’s so magnificent,” Kal said. “Seriously. How could somebody ever build something like this?”

“The Invested Arts can do wonders,” Ham replied. “I bet you’ll love learning them.”

Ham pulled a few levers and kicked a metal plate at the floor of the carriage in quick succession, causing it to slow down and stop. He opened the door and stepped out. Kal fumbled around trying to figure out how to open the car door for so long that Ham decided to just open it for him.

It wasn’t much of a long walk to the gates leading into the building. The gates themselves were gargantuan, easily five times taller and three times wider than Kal was. Looking at them made him feel extremely small in comparison, and that would have creeped him out if his past childhood hadn’t already made him feel really small in comparison to others.

The immense rattling sound that ensued as Ham knocked on one of the gates was so loud that Kal had to shield his ears. Ham, who was apparently used to the sound, wasn’t really phased by it.

“So,” he asked once the sound died down. “You said your name was Kal?”

“Kaladin,” Kal replied. “I don’t think I have a surname.”

Ham nodded. “Hoid said he was expecting you. No idea on how he knew who you were, though.” He scratched his hair. “Something weird’s definitely going on…”

Something about this felt a bit off to Kal. It was like everything felt off to him nowadays, though. “This is creepy,” he said. “How did you find me in the first place?”

“We aren’t the only foster home in the Cosmere,” Ham said. “There’s a whole network of them. Almost everybody knows about them— everybody except those from your planet, that is.”

“My planet?” Kal asked incredulously. “You’re telling me people live on other worlds?”

Before Ham could answer, another rattle shook through the gates. A series of rumbles and crashes sounded as whoever was on the other side opened the doorlatches one-by-one. After a minute or so, the final latch was opened, and the gates opened just a bit. Kal jumped back out of sudden fright as a great white scaly thing with a giant, yellow, reptilian eye peered at him through the door-crack.

“You must be the bridgeboy,” it spoke. “My old friend speaks much of you.” It then yawned deeply.

“I must be the…” Kaladin started. “The what?”

 “I see,” the giant reptile replied. “You have much to remember, then. Welcome, welcome. I am Frost of Yolen. Welcome to Hoid’s Happy Home. Come inside, make yourself at home, then please, for the love of Adonalsium, go to sleep.” It helped push open the gate, then seemed to slither away and disappear.

Kal slowly turned his head towards Ham. “What the storm was that?”

“A dragon,” Ham panted as he heaved the door open a bit more. Kal wanted to ask what a dragon was, but before he could, Ham wiped the sweat off his forehead, pointed at a bench far to the right and said, “That’s Sazed, Kal. Introduce yourself to him, then go over to the dorms and sleep.” He then yawned deeply, patted Kal on the shoulder, wished him a good slumber, then strode away into the Shadesmar night. Kal waved at him and received only a thumbs-up in response, probably because Ham was too exhausted to wave back.

Just after Ham disappeared, Kal walked over to the bench, which was almost completely shrouded in darkness. He thought he could see a figure sitting on it. There was a pole beside him with a hook shaped like a coat-hanger. Suddenly, the figure stood up and produced a luminous blue sphere out of his robe, then hung it on the pole’s hook beside him. The place was now lit up with a cool and sleepy blue light, and Kal could clearly see that there were actually two people sitting on it.

The larger one was a tall, dark-skinned man wearing a long robe that flowed and billowed like fire in the wind, even though the air was quite still tonight. He wore shiny golden earrings, a clean-shaven head and a peaceful expression on his tired face.

He was tending to the smaller figure, which looked to be a small child wrapped in a blanket. “Good evening, child,” he said, looking up towards Kal. His voice was deep, rich and very satisfying to listen to. Somehow, this man’s voice itself exuded an aura of kindness.

“Hello,” Kal responded meekly. His voice awkwardly cracked halfway through the word, probably because he wasn’t really expecting Sazed to be as good a person as he was. “You’re Sazed?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I am this place’s Caretaker. And you are Kaladin Stormblessed, are you not?”

Stormblessed. The name seemed to click into place within Kal’s mind. Of course that was his name. How could he have ever forgotten?

Sazed then turned his eyes to the child sleeping next to him. “You aren’t the only new arrival here, you know.”

As Kal looked at the child, he felt a memory return to him. A distant, quiet, quaint memory of someone younger than him. Maybe a friend. Maybe a sibling. He only remembered a name and an emotion.

The emotion was love, and the name was Tien.

Sazed scooted over a bit and gestured for Kal to sit down beside him. Kal couldn’t find the words to speak, so he just nodded, sat down and listened to Sazed speak instead.

As Sazed turned to look at Kal, his face suddenly became much more solemn. “You have known great pain,” he said. “Something happened long ago that should have shattered you, but you survived.” He looked at Kal’s face, but Kal didn’t look back.

“Raise your face, Kaladin,” Sazed whispered. “Slouching won’t make you happier.”

Kal eventually decided to meet eyes with Sazed. He felt tired, but that couldn’t compare at all to the exhaustion he saw on Sazed’s face. Even then, this man was still so kind. So thoughtful. So calm.

“I see guilt in your eyes,” Sazed continued. “What hurt you, child?”

Kal wasn’t sure if he had enough strength to respond. And yet, he did. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “I feel like I’ve forgotten what hurt me. I really don’t know if I should feel happy about that or not, though. Something feels wrong about this. I feel something’s wrong about everything nowadays.”

Sazed smiled. “You will find that you are not alone in this struggle, not at all. You will remember everything eventually, just when the time is right.”

 Sazed looked over to the sleeping child next to him. “This is-” Surprisingly, his voice caught midway through his sentence. He regained his composure just afterward. “This is Vin. She is too young to fully understand it, but her struggles are… very similar to yours. If you truly feel for people as much as you do, I’m sure you’d agree to look after her. After all, the Happy Home is growing. I can no longer look after each and every child individually.”

Kal directed his tired eyes towards Vin’s sleeping form. In the silence, he could now hear that she was very lightly snoring. He rubbed his eyes and ran his hands through his flowy shoulder-length hair, trying to dispel his sleepiness. “I don’t know if I should even be entrusted to protect anyone,” he answered. “As far as I remember, every time I’ve tried to protect someone, I’ve failed.”

“Well,” Sazed said, “I’m sure you’ll succeed this time.”

Kal paused for a few seconds. “Alright,” he eventually said. “I’ll try my best.”

Sazed seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you, child. Now, however, you must go to sleep,” he said. “We will wake you all up early in the morning.”

“Early? For what?”

“Practice,” Sazed replied. “You must be taught the Invested Arts.” After seeing the fatigued look on Kal’s face, he smiled and continued, “Don’t worry. You’ll enjoy learning them, I guarantee you.”

Ten minutes later, Kaladin was in bed in his very own dorm in the Northeast Wing of Hoid’s Happy Home. Some strange spirit who called himself VenDell had shown him the way. As he fell asleep, he still felt the sense of impending doom he always felt, but he noticed it was a bit weaker today. Noticeably weaker.

Maybe the world wasn’t so bleak after all.

Chapter 2: Hoid’s Magical Vacation & Tanavast’s Wonderful Lunch Party

Summary:

Tanavast brings all Hoid and all the Shards together for lunch.

In an unfathomable distance away on the coasts of Akarsim, the world that long ago used to be known as First of the Sun, a white-haired man with a flute sat on a beach chair and began to develop a magnificent skin tan. Of course, it would all be gone with his next Lightweaving, but he found it fun to do little things like this to distract from the larger crises he often preferred to concern himself with.

In this incarnation, Hoid had chosen his name to be Nalayak. In the language of the Primal Aethers, it meant stupid idiot.

Close enough.

Suddenly there came a buzz from deep within Hoid’s bag. The inside of his bag was full of pockets, small and large. One side was for storing weapons, gadgets and other doodads, the other for storing tiny, beautiful things from across the Cosmere.

Hoid searched through his bag’s magnificent collection of pockets to find the source of the buzz— Atim, his Seonphone. He pulled her out and flipped her open, revealing a luminous golden orb of light inside. “Two new messages, Mister Hoid,” Atim buzzed excitedly.

“Yes, Atim,” Hoid spoke exhaustedly. “I’d ask you to narrate them, but you’ve been working exceptionally hard nowadays. Go… go take a day off or something.”

“Oh my Shard,” Atim breathed. “Thank you so much, Mister Hoid!” With that, the seon seemed to puff away, encasing her essence within the Seonphone and powering it. Hoid watched the Seonphone display the Silverlight Nexus logo as it powered up.

Hoid checked his Chatonalsium account, reading through his new messages. The first one was from Ham— a report on Kaladin and Vin, the two new arrivals at the Happy Home. Hoid smiled. It was time for them to have arrived. He’d been getting rather worried.

The next message was from Frost, who was quite unhappy with the state of affairs in the Happy Home. Through his messages to Hoid he was venting about how he disapproved of Sazed being the Caretaker. It had something to do with Sazed being inexperienced as compared to him, and the unstable nature of the Shard he once used to wield. He ended his rant with the words: I am not bothered, by the way. These are only my thoughts. I am not disturbed or angered by any of this.

Hoid chuckled. Well, then, he typed, whatever happened to your oath of non-intervention? I remember a time when I was the one telling you to join the fight, not the other way around.

Just as predicted, Frost fell for Hoid’s bait and succumbed to his inner rage. He began to send Hoid a flurry of extremely angry responses. It seemed that Frost was expending months upon months of stored anger onto this. Hoid cackled as he watched a fully-grown dragon explode over such a trivial matter as this one. Some of the Akarsian beach guards looked over to Hoid in sudden alarm, then softened as they realized that he was just laughing maliciously and nothing more.

And you call me a bringer of chaos, Hoid wrote in reply. Frost started typing a new response, but seemed to stop in-between, instead sending an exasperated “For Adonalsium’s sake…” and going offline.

Hoid was about to check the next message (which was from Tanavast) when a thought struck his mind brutally and unexpectedly, like a highstorm on a Scadrian beach. There was to be a meeting today. Probably one of the most important meetings in the history of the Cosmere was about to happen, and Hoid was sunbathing on the beach? This would not do. No, not at all.

Hoid hadn’t forgotten about the meeting itself, just not when exactly it was going to happen. Thankfully, he was only a few minutes late.

The meeting was of the Council of Shards. Twenty gods on one planet. There were a few more of them from the last time. Four, to be exact. He was excited to see who the new ones were.

He turned on his Seonphone and checked the last message, which was a formal invitation from Tanavast inviting Hoid to join him and the others at lunch on Akarsim, which he said was the most beautiful planet he could find for the occasion.

Hoid packed up his things hastily, then spent a minute choosing which shirt to wear. He eventually decided to put on a flamboyant green shirt that only Shards and people of the Third Heightening and above would be able to truly appreciate. He combed his hair, then left for the journey to the meeting venue.

 

 

Fifteen minutes later, Hoid arrived at the venue. A rustic, ancient-looking restaurant had been emptied out for Tanavast’s lunch party. It was built of carved wood and stone, reminding Hoid of ancient Scadrian or Selish architecture from a long time ago.

A large group of people sat on a wooden circular table in the center of the establishment. There was total chaos and uproar on the table. Hoid had seen planets collapse and gods die in front of him, and yet the scene before him was one of the most surreal and intriguing things he’d ever seen in his millennia of life.

Tanavast, current wielder of the Shard of Honor, sat nearest to the entrance. He was looking much younger than he had before— somewhere in his mid-twenties. He could be seen clutching his face with his eyes shut, his face a mixture of agony and exasperation. Koravellium Avast, Queen of Cultivation, sat to his right and looked similarly pained.

On the left side of the table, Aona and Skai (Devotion and Dominion) were giggling together and seemed to be on the verge of kissing. Just next to them, Ati and Leras (Ruin and Preservation) were cackling at their own jokes and making many others laugh with them. In fact, he suspected they were on the verge of kissing as well. Hoid looked around for a quick second, then breathed a sigh of relief upon finding that Odium was not in the room.

On the right-hand side, old Kelsier sat a few empty chairs away from Tanavast. Hoid found a pair of sharp spike-like things protruding out from his chest instead of his eyes. Were those where they thought they were?

Kelsier turned to look at Hoid and, after finding out exactly where Hoid was staring, began to glare at him violently before trying to hide his spikes from view.

So it seemed Hoid was right. Kelsier’s spikes were jutting out of his nipples.

Edgli and Bavadin (Endowment and Autonomy) sat further down the right side of the table, playing a strategic board game. Bavadin seemed to be winning. At the farthest point sat Valor, who looked towards Hoid and smirked, raising her eyebrows in a way that Hoid wasn’t really ready for.

There were quite a few new faces he saw sitting around the table, as well. Hoid heard—

Wait. That couldn’t be real.

Hoid heard a toddler wailing his heart out, only adding to the chaos of the scene. He turned his neck to find that he was glowing vibrantly as well. This baby appeared to be holding a Shard’s worth of Investiture within himself. Hoid was about to turn and ask somebody about that when Tanavast struck the wooden table with his first and glowered at the table with bloodshot eyes that looked like they’d been kept awake for far too long.

“Hoid!” he shouted in a voice that sounded like he was extremely infuriated and enraged, but trying his best not to direct his anger towards his friend. Practically all of the partygoers silenced, but the baby continued to cry. Tanavast continued, unfazed. “Welcome to my party! You’re…” He looked like he was holding in a highstorm. “You’re finally here! Finally.”

Hoid coughed. “So I am.”

“Please have a seat,” Tanavast said, gesturing towards an ornate seat of black leather inscribed with most of Hoid’s known names. Hoid’s seat was between Valor and the Vessel of Mercy.

Wonderful! Just wonderful. Hoid did not look forward to sitting with Valor at all. Not to mention he’d be sitting quite near to the crying child. Hoid did love being around children, but right now, the room was so chaotic that he’d really prefer to be away from them for the time being.

Tanavast cleared his throat and killed off the rest of the conversations going on in the room. “We appear to be in a predicament,” he announced to the partygoers sitting around him. “Ten years ago, something terrible happened to the Cosmere, and we haven’t come close to figuring out what it was.” He looked towards Hoid. “Hoid, we’re out of ideas. Do you have any theories as to what happened?”

“I was there,” Hoid said. “I can try my best to describe it, but it would be like describing sight to a blind man. Well, I’ll try my best.” Hoid rubbed his chin thoughtfully and remained in silence for a few seconds. “Odium won,” he said eventually. “After the Contest of Champions on Roshar, Odium practically achieved his plan. Autonomy destroyed Harmony, as well, ripping it apart into Preservation and Ruin. So, for a short period of time, Frost forcefully took up the Shard of Preservation, and I forcefully took up Ruin. We held the powers long enough to… revert the Cosmere back to a workable state, then let go of it. I can’t really exactly remember how we did what we did, though.”

Tanavast contemplated that for a few moments. “You’re saying you fixed the entire Cosmere with only the power of two Shards?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Hoid answered. “I’d say I just knocked Odium  and Autonomy into a different direction, then Frost used Preservation to try and seal up all the cracks he could find within the Cosmere. It was just enough to keep the universe going.”

“But that doesn’t explain all of this chaos,” Koravellium replied, waving across the table. “For a while, some of us didn’t even remember we were gods. We still don’t fully remember the events before the disaster.”

“There were…” Hoid raised both of his hands to his lips, contemplating how to put it. “There were a few side effects.”

The rest of the table erupted in uproar. Hoid heard Ati yell “YOU DON’T SAY?” at the top of his lungs.

“Odium accidentally killed everyone,” Hoid continued, making lots of Shards stop speaking. “Everything went phenomenally terribly. Anyone that survived the disasters on Roshar and Scadrial was killed in the chaos that ensued when Taravangian began killing off the Shards that Rayse already hadn’t. In the end, I slapped him across the Cosmere with the power of Ruin, then Frost and I together tried our best to pull everyone’s souls away from the Beyond.”

Hoid stopped to drink some water, made a refreshed sound, then started speaking again. “Now people are coming back from the afterlife one after the other, born again as their old selves, mostly forgetful of their past lives, often at different ages than those when they died. Frost and I call it the Transfer.”

The Shards exchanged glances with one another as the baby from earlier began to crawl across the table. Some were confused, others intrigued, but most of them were stunned. Tanavast was no better. He bore a look of baffled amazement on his face as he looked around at the people he had spent the Shattering of Adonalsium with, and the new faces along with them.

“One thing,” Kelsier spoke, breaking the sudden silence. “I don’t remember some of these gods. Last time I checked, there were only sixteen of them.”

“That’s Frost’s problem,” Hoid responded. “He tried to fix the Cosmere, but accidentally messed it up a bit as well. You could Frost got a bit nervous and acted sloppily. There are a few new Shards now. Don’t worry, there are only—” Hoid did a quick head count. “There are only four of them.”

Hoid’s attention turned to the baby, who was now wandering across the table with a mischievous look on its face. Hoid turned to Valor. “Whose child is that? What’s a baby doing in the Council of Shards?”

“Oh, him?” Valor whispered. “He’s Whimsy.”

“Whimsy?” Hoid whispered back.

“Indeed. He must have been the last one to appear. After the... Transfer, of course.”

“Well, then,” Hoid said, surprised, to the rest of the Shards. “Whose responsibility is the Shard of Whimsy?”

The Shards looked at each other awkwardly once again. Rayse and Taravgian, the twin Odiums, were the first to chicken out. Kelsier was next. In the next few seconds, almost all of the other Shards managed to find a way to back out, leaving only the two new faces who were sitting around Whimsy. One was a gentleman and the other was a lady.

The two new Shards stood up together. The gentleman’s Shardic power manifested as a luminescent blue aura radiating about him. The serious look on his face could rival the one on Tanavast’s. He introduced himself as the Vessel of the Shard of Destiny, but didn’t share his real name. The lady stood up and began to smile vibrantly, seeming to make the room brighter as she did. She said she was the Vessel of Passion.

They looked as if they knew each other very well, but neither of them looked particularly pleased with the concept of raising a child together. Destiny cleared his throat, looking at Aona and Skai. “Maybe the lawfully-wedded Dominion and Devotion would be willing to raise him together?”

Both Aona and Skai backed away, shaking their heads violently. “Definitely not!” Skai said, stepping forward. “We’re way too young for that.” He paused, looking at Destiny and Passion. “You do love each other, don’t you?”

“Well, yes,” Destiny replied. “But-“

“Then I can’t see why you’d pass up the opportunity to adopt this beautiful child!”

Destiny slowly turned his head towards Passion. His face grew even grimmer as he looked towards Whimsy and realized that there was no possible escape for them in this situation.

“I—” Hoid began. “You won’t have to look after him too much. I could clear out some space for him in my Happy Home.”

“Thank you so much,” he immediately replied. “So much. Seriously. That would be wonderful.”

“It won’t be as terrible as you think,” Passion whispered to Destiny as the silence ended and people at the table began to talk to each other again. “You’ve always wanted a child in the back of your mind. I can tell. You’re just afraid of being a father.”

“I am!” Destiny whispered back. “Why wouldn’t I be? I’ll be a terrible parent.”

“You won’t,” Passion replied. “Trust me.”

 

 

As the lunch arrived, the other two Shards introduced themselves one after the other. The first one was a young man surrounded by bluish-green smoke. He ran his head through his hair, stood up and threw some dice on the table. He counted the numbers, pulled out a scroll and seemed to pick a name from it based on the dice. He cleared his throat and proclaimed his chosen shard-name to be the Shard of Fortune.

The other new Shard was actually nowhere to be found. She had been there at the beginning of the feast, but somewhere in the chaos she’d puffed away somewhere. Fortune said her name was Rebirth. A second later, she materialized out of thin air. When asked, she only said that she had been “rebuilding herself”.

The food was incredible, mainly because it had been prepared by Edgli, Vessel of Endowment. However, Tanavast’s face remained a bit dark as he ate his lunch. “Why the long face, Lord of Honor?” Hoid ventured to ask.

Tanavast set down his spoon and fork and looked up towards Hoid. “There is a problem I forgot to tell you about, Hoid. The Shardsmen.”

The table seemed to silence a bit after hearing that word. Hoid gulped down his Yolish chicken and gave Tanavast a confused look. “The Shardsmen?”

“The Aethers,” Tanavast replied. “The Primal Aethers are older than this disaster, older than the Shattering, older than us all. I am told the disaster created some new Aethers other than the original twelve, and these Aethers wished to control the Shards themselves.”

“Control the Shards?” Hoid asked, his mouth full of chouta. “That’s nonsense. Nobody controls the Shards.”

“In the time of the Transfer, we were all children,” Tanavast said. “Mostly seven-to-ten-year-olds given the powers of gods. Even now, most of us are teenagers. Gods suffering from puberty.” A shudder seemed to pass through his spine. “If the Aethers didn’t step in to help us control the powers, I believe we could have accidentally destroyed the Cosmere.”

“That’s why they all agreed to help build foster homes across the Cosmere, like I suggested,” Hoid realized.

“Well,” Tanavast continued, “they’re growing far too powerful. Far too powerful. I fear they might have somehow found a way to become stronger than we are. I don’t think there’s a good enough way for us to rebel, though.”

Just then, two figures entered through a side door, both wearing the same yellow robes and having the same yellow-orange aura surrounding them. Rayse and Taravangian. “Why would you—” Hoid started. “Why would you let them in here?” he shouted to Tanavast from across the table.

Tanavast sighed. “Rayse does not seem to remember how to splinter Shards, nor does he seem like he has the intent to kill other Shards at all. This is probably due to the Shardsmen helping him control his Intent. He is… still incredibly petty, however. A great buffoon.”

Hoid rubbed his chin. “And Taravangian?”

“He’s—” Tanavast turned to look at Taravangian for a second. “His Boon from the Nightwatcher seems to have worn off somehow. He is apparently smarter and more empathetic than he was before, but nowhere near being able to do anything terrible. All copies of the Diagram have been burned.” Taravangian seemed to be fighting the urge to shed a tear at the mention of that event.

Hoid spent the next few hours teaching all the Shards other than Tanavast how to use a Seonphone, making a Shard Council group-chat and devising a semblance of a plan of how to deal with the Shardsmen.

 

Hoid ran his head through his hair, suddenly very exhausted. “Alright,” he said. “It appears we have lots of work to do.”

“Hoid and I have agreed about our first step,” Tanavast said as Destiny and Passion desperately tried to keep Whimsy from crying again. “We must understand just how much power these Shardsmen have.”

“We need scientists,” Hoid said. “Scholars and enthusiasts eager to help us in our mission. Some of you can fit this.” He waved his hand across the span of the table. “Invention, Endowment, Autonomy, others. I call upon you all to help each other out in this.”

They all ended up staying awake the entire night discussing what to do. In the end, Hoid brought all the Shards to the nearest Perpendicularity and found a way to quickly drive them to Silverlight, where they went their separate ways.

Notes:

thank you all for reading it means a lot <3

Chapter 3: Kal and Kell's Stupid Little Therapy Session

Summary:

Sazed convinces Kaladin to give Kelsier a long-needed therapy session.

Notes:

For anyone who was reading, I was busy for IRL reasons, and I still am. But fuck it we ball. I'm trying my best to write good chapters as fast as I can. I hope you enjoy this

Kelsier hated it here in the Happy Home. Too many rules, too many laws, too much safety.

Safety. He hated that word. There was no such thing as safety in the cosmere, no matter how hard you searched. Everybody who said their home was safe was either stupid or lying.

The Caretaker had told Kelsier to meet one of the new kids, Kaladin, in the courtyard in the morning. Apparently, Kell needed something called therapy. Whatever that was.

Kell had awoken early, so he’d been able to sneak past the kandra chaperones and made his way into the courtyard by two in the morning. Instead of regular greenery, the courtyard’s floor had purplish-blue soil with luminescent cyan grass growing on it. In the distance Kelsier could hear some unknown kind of spren buzzing like crickets. It was a nice, peaceful place for sitting and thinking.

 Kell sat perched atop a stone gargoyle carved on top of a fountain. Now and then he could see little  anticipationspren waddling around the place as he waited for Kaladin to show up.

In the darkness of the early Shadesmar morning he saw a small, hooded figure approaching wearing a billowing brown cloak. Sazed had never told him Kaladin would be this short.

Wait. What was that?

Kelsier felt a sort of link towards the approaching figure. Not any regular link. It was probably a Connection. The one that Jasnah was always studying about. It felt supernatural, maybe spiritual. As the figure came closer, it became stronger.

“You,” Kell said in a hoarse voice. “Do I know you?”

The figure stopped and tilted its head in confusion. It took off its hood to reveal that it was a girl. Definitely not Kaladin. “You’re familiar,” she said. “I don’t know if you know me, but I definitely used to know you.”

Kelsier rubbed his chin. “So you remember things now and then too?”

“Of course. Uncle Saze says it’s normal for us.”

“Uncle Saze? What are you, nine years old?”

Suddenly there came the sound of the gateway to the courtyard creaking open. A tall, lean kid around Kell’s age walked through, almost without making a noise at all. “She actually is,” he said while yawning magnificently. “Nine years old, I mean.”

Kelsier flinched, then cursed. He really needed to work on that. He couldn’t afford to flinch every time somebody snuck up on him. “You’re Kaladin?” he asked.

“Unfortunately,” Kaladin replied. “Sometimes I wish I were anybody else.”

“I thought you were going to be the one helping me, not the other way around.”

“I think Sazed meant this as a way for both of us to help each other,” Kaladin said. The girl gestured for him to stoop down. He bent downwards so that he and she were able to mysteriously whisper in each other’s ears for a second.

Eventually, Kaladin nodded to her, then stood straight again. “She says she’s bored out of her mind,” he told Kell. “She wants to stay here. Is that alright?”

“Fine by me,” Kell responded. “Well, then. Let’s get this party started.”

Kaladin just sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Yeah. First question. How do you like it here in the Happy Home?”

“I hate it,” Kell said. “Terrible place. I wish I were literally anywhere else.”

Kaladin tossed his companion a notepad and pen. “Could you please jot this stuff down?”

She didn’t reply. She just nodded and tried to fix her hair, but failed. “Tell me more,” Kaladin said to Kelsier as he scooted over and fixed the girl’s hair for her.

Kelsier rested his elbow on the wing of the gargoyle. “I see cracks, Kaladin. Cracks everywhere. There’s something wrong with everything, you know? And nowadays I feel like I’m the only one who cares about that. Sometimes, I feel like I’m the only one who can fix it. But I know that’s egotistical.”

Kaladin nodded as his friend scribbled away on the notepad. “Cracks? Like what?”

“I don’t buy this,” he replied. “This place. You get me?”

Kaladin gave him a look of confusion.

“I don’t believe it,” Kell continued. “This place isn’t safe. I’m sure it isn’t as happy as it seems either. There has to be something below the surface, something Sazed and Hoid and all the others are hiding.”

Kaladin seemed to nod a bit and look away, considering Kell’s words. “I know this is off-topic, Kelsier, but I’m just curious. How much sleep do you get normally?”

“Sleep?”

“Yeah,” Kaladin replied. “Sleep. The stuff humans do when they’re tired?”

“That’s just— I just don’t really do that much.”

“What?”

“Sleep is just not something I do. It’s not my cup of tea.”

The girl stopped writing. She and Kaladin both looked towards Kell in disbelief. “That’s… not physically possible,” Kaladin said. “I heard people can’t stay awake for more than two weeks without dying.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I rest. Just with my eyes open.”

Kaladin breathed, apparently thinking deeply about what to say next. “Maybe we should work on that, then,” he said. “Why don’t you let yourself sleep?”

“Can’t afford to,” Kelsier replied instantly. “People could come out from anywhere, you know? Anybody could hurt me. I don’t want to die in my sleep. I don’t want to get caught with my guard down.”

“Well,” Kaladin said, “can I tell you my honest thoughts?”

“Sure.”

“I think that if you keep like this, you’ll burn yourself out. I know, because I’ve tried to do something like this before. You just get too tired to care after a while. I’ve found it better to just… take things easy once in a while. Especially in a place like this, which I believe is safe. I know you don’t think it’s safe here, but maybe pretending that it is could ease you out a bit.”

Kelsier hung his head down tiredly and ran his head through his hair. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it could be fun to pretend that it’s safe here. Yeah. I’ll try it.”

Kaladin’s friend stopped writing for a second to catch her breath. “You really don’t have to do this if you’re tired,” Kaladin said worriedly.

“Nah,” she replied. “This is actually kind of fun.”

“Alright then,” Kaladin said, then turned back to Kelsier. As soon as he opened his mouth, however, she stopped writing and started to speak again.

“Could I… say something? It’s been eating away at me for a while.”

“Sure,” both Kaladin and Kelsier said, turning towards her.

“A wise person once told me that anybody could betray me,” she said solemnly, as if she’d had it memorized. “I think it was my big brother, but I’m not sure. Anyways, according to him, the best strategy would be to betray other people first.”

Kaladin thought about that for a second, then his eyes widened in slight horror. “I don’t think you should trust that person anymore,” he said. “Trust and love are what the world’s made of. You can’t just… live life betraying people one after the other.”

Kelsier snickered.

Kaladin turned his head towards Kell and said, “What? You think I’m wrong?”

“No,” he replied. “No, I just got reminded of something. I think I… trusted someone too much. A long time ago. I loved her a lot. And she betrayed me, I’m pretty sure.”

“So what did you do?” The girl asked.

“Kept loving her,” Kell said. “I just kept on loving her. For some reason, I didn’t hate her. Maybe I didn’t believe it. Maybe I’d already forgiven her. The point is, I didn’t betray her back, and I’m still here in one piece. I think that’s proof enough that betraying people back might not be such a good idea. It starts a cycle that keeps on going and stops you from making friends. And friends are eternal. You die without friends, you know? Humans aren’t meant to stay alone.”

She nodded. “That’s really weird. But I…” she breathed deeply. “I guess I’ll trust you on this. You seem like a good person.”

Kaladin smiled a bit, then turned back to Kelsier. “Alright. So-“

“Wait. How do you cope with it all?” Kell interrupted.

“Huh?”

“Don’t act dumb,” he continued. “I know that below that veneer of happy-go-luckiness you’re just as much of a mess as I am. I just know that something hurt you a long time ago. I can tell in your eyes, in the way you hold yourself. That sorta thousand-yard stare. So how do you cope?”

Kaladin began to breathe deeply again. “I’m not really sure,” he said. “I’m just tumbling on through life. I like protecting others. It’s my calling. It makes me feel nice. It feels like what I was born to do.”

Kelsier grinned. “I guess I can believe that. It seems honest enough.” He coughed. “Alright, now tell me about what hurt you.”

“I don’t really want to open up,” Kaladin said slowly. “Yeah, I… I just can’t do this right now. Sorry.”

Kell waited a second before speaking. “Do you think you’re a hero, Kaladin?”

“I don’t know. I really hope I am.”

“Well, you might be, but you’re also a rusting PUSSY. Because the best heroes aren’t afraid to face their emotions!”

“I-“ Kaladin started. “What are you storming on about? I thought you said you don’t like to let your guard down. Why should I?”

“I meant that in the literal sense. I always go around with a few weapons on me, so that nobody catches me with my physical guard down. But I think it’s totally fine to let your emotional guard down around your friends!” He breathed a bit, then said in a cooler voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that at all. I just think it’s unfair that you’re getting me to open up, but you refuse to open up yourself.”

“Look, Kelsier. I’m really sorry. But I’m sure that if I start talking about that stuff, I’ll cry. And I’d really prefer to start off the day without crying, if that’s possible.“

“So what if you cry?” Kelsier replied. “You said this was meant for us both to help each other. Come on, Kaladin. You have to let someone else help you, too.”

Kelsier and the girl both looked at Kaladin expectantly. Eventually, he sighed and began to speak. “Yeah, I remember things,” he said. “Just like you two probably do as well. I remember new things almost every few days. Sazed says that sort of stuff is common here. But I guess what I forgot was really, really sad. Almost every memory I remember brings tears out of my eyes.”

Kell remained still as the girl started furiously jotting down on the notepad again. “That’s rough. What was the last thing you remembered?”

Kaladin remained still for a few moments. “My brother,” he slowly forced out. “My little brother. He’s gone, but until yesterday, I didn’t exactly remember where he went. Till then I kept telling myself he must have left, moved away somewhere. But last night I dreamed about the day he died.”

Kelsier gulped. Maybe bullying Kaladin into opening up had been a bad idea. But deep down he wanted to listen to Kaladin just like Kaladin had listened to him. “That’s terrible. I think it’s incredible how you still manage to keep going, after all that.”

“All what? All I’m doing is remembering stuff. That’s really not much.”

“You remember some new trauma almost every day. That’s horrific. But it also makes you so much stronger for doing things like this. Taking time out of your day to make others’ lives better. Sazed told me you’re looking after…” He looked at Kaladin’s little partner. “I forgot your name.”

She wiped her partner and looked up at Kelsier. “Vin,” she said tiredly.

It was like a sudden explosion within Kelsier’s mind. So many memories. So much love and so much pain. He remembered so many things just from that name alone. But those were only loose emotions. Sometimes he caught glimpses of concrete memories, but he wasn’t able to hold onto them for long before they drifted away into the far-off bits of his mind.

“Vin,” he replied, then looked back at Kaladin. “Sazed told me you’re looking after Vin. You’re so rusting strong, you know? Stronger than I am, for sure. You have the right to be proud for that.”

Kell thought he could see the hints of a smile on Kaladin’s face. The littlest upward curve in his mouth, like a really weak grin. But that was leagues better than his regular brooding face.

Kelsier paused for a second, suddenly deep in thought. He remembered something he’d wanted to tell Kaladin. He’d might as well get it done with. “Hey, Kaladin. Could I tell you something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

Kelsier leapt off the gargoyle, then seemed to lean forward a bit. Both of them turned to look at Vin expectantly. “I’m not moving,” she said. “Let me listen. I’ll find out what you guys are talking about either way.”

“Yeah, right,” Kell said. “Out of the way. The big kids are talking.”

“I’d advise against asking her to do something like that,” Kaladin warned. “She’s good at bullying people into doing things.”

Kelsier and Vin glared at each other for a few seconds before Kell eventually gave in, allowing his eyes to soften. “Alright,” he whispered reluctantly. “I’ll just tell it to both of you.”

He took a sip of water from his canteen of water before continuing. “There’s something strange going on. Exceptionally strange. The kandra are acting a bit tense nowadays. I haven’t even seen Hoid once since I arrived here, and Sazed and Frost only show up rarely. They seem to be acting tense as well.”

“Something weird’s definitely going on,” Kaladin agreed. “Ham was talking about it too, when he was driving me here.”

Vin opened her mouth to say something, but Kelsier suddenly held up his hand to stop her. He then gestured for both Kaladin and Vin to duck under cover. He silently leapt behind the gargoyle himself, covered by its shadow.

There was a newcomer dressed in bright, red, garish clothes. As soon as Kelsier saw the flute in his hand, he identified him as Hoid. Behind him came Sazed, dressed in an ornate orange robe, and a third man who he didn’t recognize. He had snowy white hair and was dressed in a deep blue coat. His face had been ravaged by a long, deep scar that seemed to open up into darkness. Kell thought he could even see some white spots in there, glowing like stars in the night sky.

Hoid, Sazed and the other man walked across the courtyard towards one of the walls of the building. Sazed looked around, probably looking for Kelsier and Kaladin, and scratched his head worryingly when he couldn’t find them. He stepped back and watched, arms behind his back, as Hoid—

What the rust?

As Hoid leaned towards the purple brick wall and kissed it. Once he was done, the bricks on the wall seemed to twist and contort until they melded together into a wide, wooden-looking door.

“What did you just do, Hoid?” The stranger asked in a slightly familiar voice.

“I gave myself a unique lip-print with Lightweaving,” Hoid replied. “You won’t believe how many of this place’s secret passageways are Hoid-kiss-activated.”

Kelsier, Kaladin and Vin watched, baffled, as Hoid opened the door, then walked into the room, followed by Sazed and the white-haired man.

Kelsier was the first to sneak up to the doorway as soon as the door was shut. He waved at Kaladin and Vin to sneak along too. Thankfully, the door wasn’t soundproof. It had a little keyhole that could be looked and heard through. Kell was the first to get there, so he got the best position for peeking in. Vin managed to sneak herself in right next to him. Her small size meant she could see into the keyhole as well. Kaladin, however, was too tall to be able to see much at all.

Kelsier rubbed his eyes. The white-haired man’s skin seemed to be a bit weird. It seemed to melt into his clothes. Upon closer inspection, Kell could see that wasn’t really the case— his skin just seemed to be the slightest bit… scaly in places.

Hoid walked over to a long stone table in the center of the room, put his hands on it, then looked at his companions. Sazed and the other man stood at his sides. Hoid remained silent for a few seconds. With each passing second, the tension in the room seemed to build. Kell was almost totally sure that Hoid was staying quiet just for the drama alone.

“Gentlemen,” Hoid spoke suddenly, breaking the silence. “The Shards have agreed to our proposal.”

For a second, Sazed and the unknown man remained silent. Then, the man thumped the table and began to cheer. Sazed raised his arms up in the air in exultation. “By the ancient, forgotten, long-dead gods, that’s wonderful,” he said. “But there must have been a catch.”

Kell already began to feel like the conversation was going over his head. The word Shard seemed the slightest bit familiar, but not much.

“Well,” Hoid replied, “I’m still unsure about which side the twin Odiums will decide to be in. The Shardsmen have managed to control Rayse’s Intent. He no longer sees dreams of Cosmere-wide destruction. Or planet-wide destruction, for that matter. Neither does Taravangian. There has been an interesting development, though. Kelsier was present at the party.”

Kell froze, forgetting all his questions about what the rust an Odium was.

What party?

Huh?

Vin and Kaladin seemed to be just as stunned as Kell was. In fact, Sazed and the other man seemed stunned too. “That can’t be,” Sazed said. “Kelsier arrived here a few days ago, when you were away on your month-long vacation.”

Hoid rubbed his chin. “That’s strange. Interesting. Really interesting. Maybe Frost could have an explanation?”

As the unknown man stepped up and began to speak, Kelsier realized that it was Frost. The scales, the white hair, the blue coat. The only difference was the scar on his face, which Kell could see clearly now. It looked like it really opened into the night sky, complete with a recreation of the Scar. But that couldn’t be real. Could it? Maybe Frost could… turn into a human now and then?

“I might have made a few errors,” Frost said. “I used my Shardic power to do the calculations. In order to restructure the Cosmere and bring back everyone’s souls from the Beyond, a few souls would have to be… strangely affected.”

“What do you mean, strangely affected?” Hoid asked.

“Split,” Frost said. “Split into at least two different parts.”

“This is… very interesting,” Hoid said again. “You mean to say Kelsier has a split soul?”

“I’m definitely willing to wager that, yes.”

“The one who showed up to the party had two spikes in his body. Sazed, did your Kelsier have any spikes?”

“Now that I think of it, no,” Sazed responded.

“Well, if the one here is Kelsier’s old self, then the one at the party must have been—”

“Thaidakar,” Hoid and Sazed said together.

Kelsier narrowed his eyes and slowly brought his neck out of the keyhole, looking at Kaladin and Vin in confusion. Who’s Thaidakar? He mouthed at them silently.

Just then:

“I was worried we’d have to go looking for our little Survivor,” Hoid announced, “but it seems we are already in his presence.” He turned his neck to look straight in the direction Kell and the others were hiding.

Frost stepped forward to open the door and smirked. Well, rust. There went any chance of them sneaking away unnoticed. Kell looked back to see Vin had already scampered away somewhere. Kaladin glanced behind himself. “Be right back,” he said very quickly. He immediately turned and ran, trying to catch her.

Slowly and cautiously, Kelsier walked into the room. Inside, Hoid was grinning broadly and Sazed had a concerned, slightly exhausted look on his face that clearly said Where were you hiding?? You had me very worried, young man.

“Oh, come on,” Hoid said. “Don’t feel so bad about it. You couldn’t have gotten past my Life Sense for much longer. It’s a wonder you managed to eavesdrop on us for as long as you did.”

“I don’t like this,” Kelsier said bluntly. “Something about this is wrong, and I don’t know what.”

“You haven’t changed a bit,” Hoid sighed. “I have fond memories of the last time we fought. You were a sore loser, you know. I still have insults in my mind that I never got to use against you.”

“Why not use them now?”

“I can’t. You’re a kid, and I’m a grown man. It would be strange, unfair and against my sense of honor. Not to mention there is an adult version of you somewhere out in the Cosmere that I can gleefully track down and berate instead.”

Kelsier looked back to find Kaladin walking back towards the room, holding Vin up in the air by her collar with his arm outstretched in front of him. She was kicking and clawing around in the air like a murderous cat. He slowly lowered her down and placed her on the ground so she could stand up on her own. A second later, her gaze softened. “Oh,” she said. “Sorry. I thought you were someone evil.”

“Oh, I am,” Kaladin said quietly. “I’m a… terrible storming person.”

“What was that, Kal?” Hoid asked.

“Nothing,” Vin replied. “Just regular Kaladin brooding.”

Kelsier breathed in deeply and narrowed his eyes at Hoid. “What is going on here? What do I have to do with all of this rust?”

“Well, you-“ Hoid started. He was interrupted by Sazed loudly calling “Watch your language!” from inside the room.

“Promise me,” Hoid said to the kids as Kal and Vin stepped forward to listen, “Promise me you won’t speak a word of this to the other kids. The only reason I’m telling you at all is because I know you won’t stop searching until you find out.” He paused. “Kelsier, please give your friends Waxillium and Wayne some other mystery to solve. That would be better than them trying to solve this one themselves, and subsequently disrupting many of our plans.”

Hoid beckoned the kids into the room, then pulled out a sofa for them to sit on. As they took a seat, Hoid placed his hands on the table again and yawned. “To make a long story short, ten years ago, the Cosmere as we knew it was destroyed by a very evil, very mean person named Odium. But that’s a story for another time.

“All of the kids in the Happy Home used to be heroes from that time. Unfortunately, due to a variety of unfortunate reasons, you mostly failed in the end. Frost and I, however, managed to… fix the Cosmere and bring you all back from the dead. This thing with all of you arriving back one after the other, it’s what we call the Transfer.”

“Back… from the dead?” Kaladin asked. “So those… those memories we remember now and then. Those are?“

“Memories from your past life,” Hoid replied. “If somebody feels familiar to you, odds are you used to know them before… all of that happened.”

“Oh,” Vin said, rubbing her chin. “This explains why Uncle Saze was crying the other day.”

Sazed’s eyes widened. “Sorry. What was that, child?”

“The day Kal and I arrived here, I wasn’t really asleep. I’m pretty sure I heard you crying a bit after Kal left.”

Sazed gulped as Hoid and Frost’s eyes shifted over to him. “Yes, well, that must have been a misconception.”

Hoid shook his head, smiling warmly. “Frost can explain what happened to Kelsier. I’m too tired to explain it twice.”

Kelsier could see that Frost didn’t seem to be particularly happy. His smirk from earlier had dissipated. There was now a scowl where it used to be, one that was even worse than Kaladin’s glare.

Frost turned his eyes to Hoid. “I don’t think I should tell them.”

“Why not?” Hoid replied.

“I can’t trust them,” he said. “They’re kids. They’ll tell everyone they meet about this.”

Hoid pondered on that for a second. “Well, they haven’t betrayed my trust before.”

“Look, Hoid,” Frost replied. “All I wish to say is, you trusted them. Then what happened?”

“Then they showed me just how wonderful they could be.”

“No. They failed, didn’t they? If they were so wonderful, why couldn’t they stop Odium from killing the Cosmere?”

“Gentlemen,” Sazed interrupted. “Not in front of the children. Please.”

Everybody was silent for a second. Then, Frost suddenly spoke again. “This isn’t your business, Terrisman,” he said. “Stay out of this argument. Go do your job. We wouldn’t want you losing control of this Happy Home like you lost control of your Shard.”

Sazed breathed in deeply, as if to calm his anger. “You know full well that Taravangian Splintered me,” he spoke slowly. “You act as if I was the reason Harmony was destroyed.”

Frost looked as if he wanted to say something terrible, but shook his head. The hateful glare on his face weakened, and he closed his eyes, breathing just as deeply as Sazed was.

“Lighten up, Frost,” Hoid chuckled, rubbing Frost’s back. “We wouldn’t want you splitting peoples’ souls in half.”

Frost opened his eyes, glared at Hoid, then closed them again. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. “I apologize for my outburst. Kelsier… when I brought back a few peoples’ souls from the Beyond, they fractured a little bit. Yours fully broke into two. There are now two of you in the Cosmere, completely independent, but somehow bonded. I’m very sure you both embody two conflicting parts of your full soul.”

Kelsier breathed deeply, considering this information. Another version of him, roaming around in the universe somewhere, an unfathomable distance away from him. He felt a bit like finding him and speaking with him.

“Well, then,” Hoid said. “I think it’s time for you all to go to sleep again before we wake you up for breakfast. Sazed, Frost and I have places to be.”

“Hold on a second,” Kelsier said. “None of this explains why you’re gone all the time. Or why Sazed and Frost are always so tense nowadays.”

“Come on!” Hoid replied. “We can’t tell you that, and deep in your heart, you know it.”

“Please?”

“It’ll take much harder than that to persuade me. Your plea doesn’t even sound genuine.”

Vin walked to the front of the group, making the cutest face she could muster. “Pretty please?”

Hoid silently considered her face for a few seconds, then shook his head. “No. Sorry. Confidential information. You have no reason to know what we’re arguing about.”

Vin took a deep breath. “Hoid, we’re not leaving until you tell us the rest of what’s going on. We—”

Hoid didn’t even respond. He just lifted her up by the stomach, then placed her on the ground outside after she began to try and fight him. Kelsier tried to strike back, but Hoid grabbed his shoulders, turned him around and pushed him out of the room. Kaladin considered arguing, but closed his mouth, grumbled a frustrated “good night, Hoid, Sazed and Frost” and left after he realized it was going to be fruitless.

Once the door was shut, Hoid rubbed his forehead as the happiness drained out of his face and got replaced by solemnity. “I hope we survive this time...” he whispered. “Adonalsium help us all.”