01 The Final Empire by Sanderson Brandon

Author:Sanderson, Brandon [Brandon, Sanderson,]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-10T22:26:46.722000+00:00

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 wasnt like hearingnot really. She had to concentrate to distinguish anything speci?c 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.

Ones a Pulling metal, isnt it? Vin asked, opening her eyes. That ones Kelsier. Youre Pushing.

Very good, Marsh said. He is burning iron, as I asked him to so that you could practice. Iof courseam 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, thats how some of the metals were originally divided into their categories. It isnt intuitive, for instance, that tin Pulls while pewter Pushes. I didnt 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 cant sense anything, she said, dejected.

Good, Marsh said ?atly. It took me six months of practice to distinguish pulse lengthsif youd done it on the ? rst try, Id 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, youll 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 varianceonce 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 pewterthe internal Pushing physical metal.

Why the names? Vin asked. External and internal?

Metals come in groups of fouror, at least, the lower eight do. Two external metals, two internal metalsone 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.

But, bronze and copper, Vin said. Kelsier called them internal metals, but it seems like they affect external things. Copper keeps people from sensing when you use Allomancy.

Marsh shook his head. Copper doesnt change your opponents, it changes something within yourself that has an effect on your opponents.

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