Shadows of Self

Wax pursues Bleeder to a shed, where he guesses she is changing bodies in the darkness. He enters, and Bleeder taunts him, asking if he knows how long Harmony has been shaping him and nudging him. She hints that Harmony even made sure Wax went out to the Roughs. She flees before Wax can shoot, as he must be extremely careful with the one bullet Ranette made. She took on Steelpushing so she can flee more quickly. Wax follows.

Wayne, Marasi, and MeLaan inspect the remains of the governor’s bones that Bleeder left when she fled. Marasi knows they need to calm the mob soon, so she asks MeLaan to impersonate the governor while Marasi writes a speech.

Wax follows Bleeder, gaining on her. They make their way to the top of a bridge, and Bleeder lowers her mask. Wax stops before shooting, shocked to see Bleeder wearing the face of Lessie, the woman Wax loved.

Marasi watches the crowd as MeLaan steps up to give a speech as Innate. She notes the way the crowd instantly falls silent and she realizes that someone is soothing the crowd. Recalling Wax’s uncle, whose organization has a vested interest in Bleeder’s plans going through, she realizes Edwarn would also have a Rioter nearby to inflame the mob’s anger once they realize “Innate” deviated from the script. She tells Reddi, who is closest to her, what’s going on, and they agree they need to find the Allomancers manipulating the crowd.

Wax faces Bleeder, wearing Lessie’s face. She tells him she was worried that by wearing Bloody Tan’s face he might realize who she really is. Wax believes she dug up Lessie’s body, but her mannerisms seem almost exactly like he remembers Lessie’s.

Marasi and Reddi lead a small task force, wearing aluminum helmets to protect against emotional Allomancy, to stop the Allomancers in a carriage near the mob. As they step into the alleyway where it waits, a group of men steps out of nearby buildings to stop them. Both groups benefit from the crowd not knowing what’s going on, so all guns are put away. The two sides attack one another.

Bleeder/Lessie keeps talking about how she loves Wax and how it would have been easier if she had not loved him. She talks out loud about how she might need to hurt Wax now, and how it might be better if Wayne died, too, although she loves Wayne for following Wax to Elendel. Wax starts to raise his gun again, but Bleeder/Lessie uses Steelpushing to throw it out of his hand. She shoots him in the leg in their scuffle, and Wax falls off the platform, Steelpushing to slow his fall to the bridge.

Marasi feigns joining the fight so she can “fall” and slip past the group of combatants. There are still two guards near the carriage, so she uses Allomancy to slow and then restart time, startling the guards and making them realize the constables have Allomancers. The men leave the carriage to find and deal with Allomancers. Marasi slips into the carriage and levels her gun at the people inside who are Rioting and Soothing the crowd. She orders them to stop their men from hurting more of her constables.

Bleeder/Lessie screams at Wax to stop being enslaved to Harmony, trying to get Wax to listen to her, but Wax spots his gun and heads toward it. He grabs it, and when he shoots, Bleeder/Lessie does not bother to move, as bullets are usually no problem for her. After a second, however, she realizes what Wax did—the bullet from Ranette was crafted specifically to act as a spike, so that once it embedded in her, Harmony could take control of her once more. She screams in agony as she realizes what Wax did.

Marasi orders the female Soother to soothe the crowd, but the mob is getting increasingly out of hand. MeLaan starts going off script, imitating the way the governor would likely have become angry at the mob; this backfires, and the people become more angry. Suddenly, Aradel stands up and levels his gun at Innate, telling the crowd he is arresting Innate, citing the corruption Marasi uncovered. Marasi offers the Soother a pardon if she soothes the crowd immediately after this. With this help, Aradel is able to channel the crowd’s anger into a sense of camaraderie with the constables as Aradel promises to arrest all the lords and ladies Innate was in league with.

Wax goes to Bleeder/Lessie’s body. She hates being in Harmony’s control so much she tells him she will die by suicide, as the kandra found a way to let themselves die. Despite his hatred of her actions, Wax feels it is right to hold her while she dies. She speaks words from one of the first days Wax met Lessie, and Wax freezes. He demands where she learned the words, and Lessie speaks of loving him even that first day. Wax realizes as Lessie dies that this kandra, Paalm, was Lessie the entire time. TenSoon confirms this when he arrives; he only found out a few days before himself. Harmony sent Paalm as a bodyguard while Wax was in the Roughs, and TenSoon did not tell Wax of Paalm’s identity because Harmony foresaw disaster if Wax were to find out. In his grief, Wax tells TenSoon he killed Lessie again.

Wax, suffering in despair, sits by the fire at a party thrown to celebrate victory and the fact that the new governor, Aradel, is someone without even a bit of noble blood, for the first time ever. Wayne tries to cheer Wax up, but Wax only ignores his efforts. Marasi places a spike on the table next to Wax; it is one of Paalm’s spikes. She tells him it is made of a material they do not recognize, but he tells her he does not care. He shares his anger at Harmony for manipulating him, and Marasi leaves.

Marasi finds Aradel in the constabulary doing paperwork. He is unhappy about being appointed interim governor, but Marasi tells him he is likely to be elected governor after that. She is glad to see what he, rather than the corrupt officials they had, will make of the job. MeLaan joins them, asking how to tie a noose with her belt. She is going to stage Innate’s death by suicide, despite Marasi and Aradel’s desire to use her as the star witness for their case. She reminds them she and Harmony would not stand for that kind of manipulation of justice. Marasi confronts MeLaan about Wax’s pain, but MeLaan responds with her own anger, asking if Marasi would have Harmony lead people by the nose, like chess pieces, as Bleeder claimed he did. She points out how difficult Harmony’s decisions are, and she indicates Marasi should be frightened, because the unknown origin of the spike Bleeder used indicates there are other gods out there working against Harmony. Marasi recalls a name spoken by Miles Hundredlives in her first adventure with Wax: Trell. She is determined to research it more fully.

When all the guests leave, Steris adds more logs to the fire that Wax watches blankly. She places the step stool of his chair near him and sits on it, providing him with silent company. After a time, Wax turns to her, laying his head on her shoulder and weeping.