“Yes. Forward.” She nodded, then looked around. “And maybe get out of this building for a while. Currently, all that’s going through my mind are the various ways a convenient natural disaster could turn it to rubble.”
Wax grunted, and helped Steris gather the rest of their things. As they did, Wax saw an envelope on the corner of his desk. That hadn’t been there before, had it? Picking it up, he felt something heavy slide to the corner. A bullet?
No, he discovered after slipping it open. An earring. And with it a small note.You’ll need to make a second, once the proper metal arrives.
He had no idea what that meant. And he didn’t care.Not today, Harmony,he thought.Leave me alone.
“What’s that?” Steris said.
“Something from Harmony,” Wax said.
She paused, looking at him.
“So, likely,” he added, “something useless.”
Steris drew her lips to a line. She was a Survivorist, and didn’t strictly worship Harmony, who was seen as the god of the Path—a distinct but complementary religion. Still, after all they’ddone and the things he’dseen, Steris had adopted a somewhat… cross-denominational view of God. At any rate, she knew he’donce worshipped Harmony.
These days… Well, he and God had history. Wax felt he’dovercome his worst problems with Harmony, ever since their conversation directly before he’ddonned the Bands of Mourning. But that didn’t stop Wax from making the occasional snide remark. Today, he shoved the envelope in his back pocket and put it out of his mind.
They packed up their things—rusts, with kids there were so manythingsto cart around. Steris wanted another child, but Wax worried about that. He didn’t fancy being outnumbered.
But then again… he couldn’t help smiling as Max went running down the hall, making his Soonie pup leap between black squares of marble, avoiding the white ones. Wax didn’t normally see the other senators with families; they claimed that having children in the building wasn’t respectful. But if they respected the building so much, why had they made a mockery of it with that vote?
A good number did vote as you wanted,Wax had to remind himself.And others are scared. Of being seen as weak. Of outside interests. They’re not all slag for voting against you. Remember that. There are some good ones. Same as in every profession.It was just… well, he didn’t want to think about that right now.
Outside the building, fleets of motor carriages had arrived to pick up senators. They’ddrive off to parties, or appearances, or informal get-togethers. Even those who worked with Wax rarely invited him along unless they wanted to strategize. It was like they thought he was above simple socializing. Or maybe he made them uncomfortable.
As his family gathered to wait for their driver, Max tugged on his suit coat. “Is ya sad, Pa?” he asked loudly. “I hates the sads. Right bad, they is.”
The way he said it caused several nearby senators to turn their noses up and sniff. Wax cocked an eyebrow. “Has Uncle Wayne been teaching you accents again?”
“Yeah,” Max said, softer. “Says I shouldn’t tell you though, so you’dthink I was a genius for doing it on my own.” He smiled. “He told me to talk like that around the senators because it’ll upset them. And they need to be upset today, don’t they? Because they made you and Mother sad?”
Wax nodded, kneeling down. “You don’t need to worry about that though.”
“Know what makes me feel better when I’m sad?” Max asked.
“Hugging Tenny?” Wax said, patting the stuffed kandra on the head.
“Well, that,” Max said, “and… um… flying?” He looked at Wax with big, hopeful eyes.
Nearby, their motorcar pulled up to the curb and Hoid, the driver, stepped out. “Your carriage, sir,” he said, holding the passenger door. But rusts, who could deny a child when he looked at you like that?
“Thank you, Hoid,” Wax said. “Please take my wife wherever she would like to go. Kath, you have the harness?”
“I do, m’lord,” she said, handing Steris the baby, then digging into the enormous bag of extra clothing and washcloths. She tossed the harness to Wax, who gave her his coat and vest in exchange.
It gave him an impish stab of glee to pull on the leather harness and strap Max to his back in front of everyone. Then, with a fond kiss for Steris—and a promise to meet her at home—he dropped a bullet casing and turned toward the crowd.
“Don’t none of you get jealous or nothin’!” Max shouted. “He can give you a ride fer cheap, if you ask real nice and stop being a pile o’ bad turds!”
Yeah… maybe Wax should have a little talk with Wayne. But for now he waved to the crowd, then launched himself into the air, Max letting out a whoop of riotous glee.
6
The tunnel Marasi entered bore signs of ancient civilization: the remnants of brick walls covering up the rough natural stone. A smooth floor, chiseled and graded. Sconces on the walls, now pocked with rust as if suffering some terrible disease.
She took out the last of her grenades, the one Wax had charged for her. These newer ones could hold a charge for hours—though by now the effect wouldn’t last long once activated. Three or four minutes at most. She still felt better holding it—and so, reluctantly, she set her rifle on the ground and instead drew her pistol. It also contained less metal than the rifle, making it a slightly better tool against a potential Allomancer. For the same reason, she left her pouch with extra metals, though she kept her belt with a few non-metal tools useful for fighting Allomancers.