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[Ellsworth Venture]

"Indeed we would not," said an oily voice from behind Ellsworth, who couldn't help but groan. What was he doing here?

"Hullo, Sigmund," Hector said, barely able to keep from rolling his eyes.

"Hector. Augustin. Ladies." He didn't greet the women by name. Why would he? For someone who prided himself on presenting himself impeccably, he was certainly lacking in certain social graces.

"What do you want, Sigmund?" Ellsworth snapped, turning around in his seat to shoot his brother an irritated look. Sigmund, unfazed, merely adjusted his spectacles and leveled a keen gaze at Magnus.

"What else could I want, brother? I'm here to talk about that little display out there." The icy disapproval was clear in Sigmund's voice, and Ellsworth felt his temper rising all the more.

"Grand, wasn't it?" he asked through gritted teeth. It was supposed to look like a grin, but he wasn't sure he was managing that so well.

"Disgraceful, more like. Outed as an Allomancer before you've been a full month at court? Is there anything you can do r--"

Ellsworth was out of his chair before Sigmund could finish that sentence, his hand tightening around the other man's cravat. Of course, being Mistborn, Sigmund didn't so much as flinch, which only made Ellsworth angrier.

"Now see here," he growled, "you arrogant, insufferable--"

"Whoa, whoa! That's enough, both of you!" When had Hector come over here?

Not that it mattered. Sigmund might be Mistborn, but after coming over here to lecture Magnus about outing himself, he wouldn't dare use his Allomancy in public. And if he didn't apologize to Magnus, he would regret it.

[Magnus Venture]

Magnus was enjoying his moment. He hadn't really gotten many moments to be talked about. In a way he almost liked it. The entire ball was brimming with people talking about what they had just witnessed. The adrenaline of the fight was just starting to wear off when he heard a grating, irritating buzzing behind him.

His eldest brother Sigmund deigned to address him only to admonish him for what he had just accomplished. It would be a long time before Delwin Ewing would attempt to make a fool of any Venture again. Perhaps he would stop underestimating other nobles, but Magnus didn't think that he had shattered Delwin's world-view that much, but a large hole in Delwin's ego for an evening was enough.

How could anything so wonderful be disgraceful? Magnus watched Ellsworth jump to his aid, but immediately saw the inherent danger. Sigmund could easily win a fight with Ellsworth without using Allomancy, but Magnus was not about to let it come to blows between them. It looked like Sigmund was daring Ellsworth to hit him, the way he just stood there.

Without thinking, Magnus leapt from his chair and separated his two brothers at arms length, putting himself between the two of them. Magnus figured that was the safest place for him to be. Sigmund and everyone else at the ball knew that Magnus was a Pewterarm and Sigmund wasn't outed. There was no way his Mistborn brother was going to out himself just to get a punch in.

Magnus glared sideways at Sigmund. "There is no need for this," He said, looking his brother directly in the eyes -- something that he had rarely ever done. Sigmund was almost never in the same room with them, let alone looked at either Magnus or Ellsworth. "Especially not here."

Magnus removed his hands from his brothers and squared his shoulders, facing Sigmund. "Why don't we let father be the judge of what happened here? He can decide if it is disgraceful." Magnus spat the last word out as if it tasted spoiled in his mouth.

"And I will accept whatever punishment he deems necessary. You are not Lord Venture yet, Sigmund. I know that you can't wait for father to step into his grave, but you won't be half the Lord our father is.

"Now why don't you leave before things get out of hand?"

[Ellsworth Venture]

Silence reigned supreme at the table.

Sigmund had turned a dazzling shade of purple. Hector was staring at Magnus with his jaw hanging agape. Augustin eyed him thoughtfully as if truly seeing him for the first time. And Corinne looked like she was enjoying this far more than anyone had a right to.

Ellsworth, meanwhile, could not have been prouder of his brother. Sigmund, of course, was far less amused.

"Talking awfully big all of a sudden, aren't we, Maggy?" Sigmund spat. Ellsworth would have punched him then and there if it hadn't meant shoving Magnus out of the way to do it. "Of course you are, since you've been noticed for once. Is that what you wanted? Are you happy now?

"And you, Ellsworth. Look at you, cowering behind a teenager like the useless layabout you are. You always were the weakest of us. Congratulations on proving it to the rest of the court."

[Magnus Venture]

Magnus kept his face as neutral as he could when Sigmund turned a pretty shade of purple, but his increasingly short fuse got shorter the moment Sigmund opened his mouth. He knew that his brother was willing to stoop to new levels of low to insult someone who was beneath him... but Magnus had not realized that his eldest brother had turned into a Ewing.

Magnus did not mind the mention of Delwin's irritating nickname. It was old news that his name could be shortened to make it seem like he was a twelve year old girl. That part was fine, but Magnus bristled at the comments about his moment in the spotlight, and Ellsworth being weak.

It would have taken half that provocation to get a response from Magnus if they had not been in public. He could not control himself any longer, however. He raised his fist with the very clear intention of hitting Sigmund across the face with it.

[Ellsworth Venture]

Not. Good. Not good not good not good. Ellsworth jumped forward, hauling Magnus back by the shoulder as he shoved himself between his two brothers. As much as he would have loved to watch Magnus deck Sigmund and knock him sprawling, that would only lead to retaliation when they were at home and Sigmund could make full use of his Allomancy. And while it was one thing for Ellsworth himself to pick a fight, there was no way in the Deepness itself that Magnus was going to get himself hurt over their ass of a brother.

"That is enough, both of you!" he commanded, his voice resonating with far more power and authority than even he knew it could carry. As he spoke he drew himself to his full height, standing taller than either of his brothers and dominating the space between them, willing them to back off without any more violence. "Magnus, he's not worth it. Sigmund, leave off. Heir or no, you have no authority to dictate Venture's response to this situation."

"Big words coming from the one who started the fight," Sigmund scoffed. Instead of wanting to punch him again like he usually would, however, for some reason Ellsworth found himself feeling more, well, annoyed than anything. Had Sigmund always been this... dare he say it... childish?

"I said enough," he repeated, lowering his voice. "Leave, now, before you wind up embarrassing all of us."

For a moment it looked like Sigmund was going to mouth off yet again, but Ellsworth fixed him with a stern glare he hadn't known he was capable of using, and a too-long moment later, Sigmund finally turned and left, muttering profanities as he stalked off through the crowd with the bristling grace of an extremely disgruntled cat.

"Hmph," Ellsworth said when he was gone, returning to his seat at last. "Good bloody riddance. I can't believe we're related to that."

[Magnus Venture]

Along with everyone else who was witness to this outburst, Magnus was stunned. For the first time he saw Ellsworth for the man he hoped his brother would become. He somehow managed to get Sigmund of all people to back off. That was an accomplishment. Not to mention how commanding he sounded. For the first time Magnus saw what a shame it was that Ellsworth was not the eldest.

It was clear that Ellsworth stunned everyone else witness to Sigmund's exit, but Magnus was the first to break the silence and clapped Ellsworth on the shoulder.

"What's worse is that someday we'll have to actually listen to him," he said, with an apologetic smile. Magnus could only imagine what would have happened if Ellsworth hadn't been there.

He didn't mean to let Sigmund get under his skin. If he hadn't risen to Sigmund's provocation, that whole thing could have been avoided. It was only in the aftermath that Magnus could see what a terrible idea that had been.

[Ellsworth Venture]

"Don't remind me," Ellsworth groaned, rubbing his temples. "It's bad enough to think he'll be running things at all."

"Hear hear," said Hector, who raised his glass in a toast to... something. Sigmund's incompetence, maybe? More than likely, it was an excuse to take a drink and move on from the conversation. Typical Hector, changing the subject in such a bizarre way.

He didn't say no to that drink, though.

The rest of the ball proceeded without incident, thank the Lord Ruler, though Ellsworth passed much of it in thoughtful silence. It wasn't until the carriage ride home, however, after they had dropped Ammeline off and were on their way back to Keep Venture, that Ellsworth broached the subject again.

"I hope you're aware now," he said quietly, "that you represent House Venture now. You are publicly known as an Allomancer, and a combat type at that, which means people will see you as a visible example of our strength, and of the overall ability of our Allomancers. But you proved you can live up to that with how you handled yourself in there. I'm proud of you, little brother.

"And you'll always me my little brother," he added with a fond grin, "no matter how many bullies you beat up. I might be the 'weakest', but at least let me have that much."

[Magnus Venture]

The adrenaline wore off, and the ball proceeded. Magnus was happy to finally leave. He was tired of looking at mirrors. He wondered if their training yard had as many mirrors so that Delwin would watch himself train. In the carriage, he was busy looking out the window at the mists while Ellsworth said goodbye to Ammeline. He was sitting in comfortable silence until Ellsworth started talking. He looked back at Ellsworth and smirked.

He thought of making a joke about being good enough to win a dueling championship... and that no one would ever question Venture's strength because of him... but he saw the look on Ellsworth's face. He did not claim to know everything about his brother, but this was one of the very few times Ellsworth was genuinely serious with him.

Magnus stopped grinning and nodded."I hope I will prove you've placed your faith well." He said as he looked at Ellsworth smiling.

"In the mean time, I also hope that Father doesn't rip me to pieces."

[Ellsworth Venture]

Ellsworth just shrugged. "Let me handle Father," he said simply. "I'll have to explain the Sigmund Incident to him anyway. He'll probably want to talk to you, but I'll try to get everything under control first.

"Honestly, I'm sort of relieved you outed yourself. You're better suited to being an Allomancer than a politician, and now you don't have to pretend to be something you're not just to find your place. As long as Father understands that, and he knows you're committed to living up to that, it'll be fine."

[Magnus Venture]

Magnus chuckled at Ellsworth. He shook his head. "Well I'm glad I'm not being asked to be a diplomat. Give me a stick, and give me a target. Don't give me the stick and tell me I'm not allowed to use it. I don't think I will ever understand the intricacies of politics and the benefit of holding everyone to a different standard. I think I would positively eliminate the need for a moral gray area. "

He looked out the carriage window as they trundled along the road. "Hopefully father sees it the same way that we do... and hopefully you can get to him before Sigmund does."

The rest of the carriage ride had Magnus trapped in quiet contemplation. He couldn't help but think he had opened up a stream of endless troubles this evening. More than partially because of Sigmund's obvious disaproval. Ellsworth and the thought that he had never seen Sigmund pleased about anything were the two things keeping him sated -- keeping him calm.