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Give me a slightly different universe where Vin, beaten and battered by her brother’s betrayals, learns how to spot lies and read people with incredible accuracy. Where she’s learnt more from the crew than how to take a hit - she learns persuasion, flattery, deception, and maybe a smattering of flirting. Where she spends almost as much time impersonating noblewomen as she does being a skaa thief. Where she can hold conversations for hours without giving away a hint more than she needs, just for that one weakness that could shatter her enemy. Where she learns to walk the fine line between being a useful crewmember and an underestimated girl.
Because this Mistborn - who instinctively reaches for zinc and brass before iron and steel - was always better at subtlety than Kelsier.
When the crew finds her, she’s still bruised and broken, but she Soothes and Riots Kelsier’s emotions with a touch to rival Breeze’s most experienced apprentice. In this universe, Vin learns the rules of the crew just as quickly and slots herself in right where she wants to be.
Only this time, Valette Renoux comes to her as easily as slipping on a well-worn t-shirt, as familiar as the comforting burn of zinc and brass, as safe as the mists at night. Her apprehension at the first ball is no lie, yes, but this time, she isn’t nearly as powerless. She spends the week before the ball trying to Soothe, Riot, or persuade Sazed to give her any and all information about Luthadel’s elite. She steps into Keep Venture in her armour of blue silk and sapphires, and sees with blazing clarity, the threads of tension knotted into a stiff fabric of politics and power.
When Shan Elariel comes at her, fangs bared, Vin stands her ground. She sits demurely, listens quietly, and obeys instructions. But she doesn’t need tin to see that Shan has offended others, who, like Vin, are nothing but her pawns.
Valette is sociable and friendly, if a bit inexperienced and common. She makes friends and forms alliances, nudging here and whispering there. She keeps her copper on when Soothing or Rioting in a pinch, but most of her work involves reading the undercurrent of feelings, loyalties, and indecisiveness.
“You’re getting quite popular,” Elena Venture says to her at Keep Hasting one day. Vin raises an eyebrow - she‘s only talked to him twice now, and Lord Liese is really a lovely companion, it wouldn’t do for him to see her talking to the Venture heir, would it?
“It’s kind of like dancing, really, this courtly stuff.” Vin shrugs. “You get better with practice.” She turns away and walks off, back to her circle of friends. Elend pauses, then turns back to his book.
(Vin’s inner circle of “friends” - mostly noblewomen around her age and her station - has people who are shy, charming, witty, caring, and unbelievably genuine for aristocrats. Sometimes, she thinks, if this was a different world, they could have been proper friends, not allies circling each other warily.)
(Or perhaps that was Kelsier’s idealism rubbing off on her.)
Vin sighs.
The tensions are rising, and each step Valette Renoux takes is heavier than the last. But she doesn’t give in to Shan or Kliss or anyone else - quietly, she gathers her troops and rallies them for battle. When the house war begins in earnest, Renoux will not be alone.