While the elves are off enjoying the festival, Kachen rests and recovers from his recent trials. When he is well enough, Heppa engages him in conversation about the nature of the burns he suffered. He has explained to her before that human mages pull energy from the aetherium. Some of the teaching at Alduin covers how to safely convert that energy into magic. Her own experiences in the Grey Woods—along with the insight of woses—taught her that shadow mages are sloppy in this regard. Corruption seems to result from the aetherium seeping uncontrolled into this plane. In the fight with Godol, Kachen used Gaenyn’s sword as a magical implement, and she wonders about that. “So were your burns from containing the energy of the aetherium, rather than letting it seep out into the environment?” Heppa asks.
“Yes, I absorbed the excess energy into myself instead,” Kachen tells her.
“But was that the sword’s fault or what you were doing? Is corruption inherent in the sword?”
“For an uncareful wielder of the sword or one who doesn’t care—likely Gaenyn didn’t care—it has the potential to leak out. I stopped that from happening when I used it. Under less pressured conditions, that would not have been necessary. If one knows going into a casting that the implement has this defect, one could avoid taking any injury to begin with. One could be more careful in how one pulled the energy so that there was no danger of leakage.”
“So why were you using it at all? Did it just help you cast? We have to figure out what to do with this sword,” Heppa says. “Is it safe for it to continue existing?”
“I can take it off your hands,” Kachen offers.
When Kachen suggested this the other day, Tric was not sure how he felt about it, but seeing his friend use it without producing lightning was reassuring. “Yeah, Heppa, Kachen offered to buy it. Of all the places it could end up, I feel like that’s the best one.”
“Or we could destroy it or let Daddy study it.”
“It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing Uncle Thran is interested in, though. It’s not explicitly involved in necromancy,” Tric points out, and Heppa agrees. “We could try to disenchant it, but I feel better with it being repurposed. It seemed to help Kachen out.”
“It’s a useful implement,” Kachen says. “It would be a shame to destroy it.”
“And obviously we can trust Kachen with it,” Heppa says. “He has already injured himself trying not to cause corruption.” There is no way in her mind that Kachen is a necromancer. It seems like he could be so easily, but he fights it at every turn. “I think that sounds like a good solution for our sword problem.”
Tric nods. “Plenty of elves use swords, but I don’t think this is the kind of weapon—”
“I was assuming it could only work with human magic,” Heppa interrupts. “Though maybe you can use it, Tric. And you don’t have a sword.”
“I don’t really want a sword,” Tric tells his cousin.
“You could attempt to cast with it, Hepalonia. I think it probably could channel whatever primal energies you access as well,” Kachen suggests. He is not entirely sure what Tric’s magical training is, but if it has involved anything adjacent to necromancy, then it involves the same arcane techniques Kachen used.
“You’re right! I should at least try,” Heppa agrees, happy to conduct experiments.
“But let’s not destroy this room,” Tric adds. “We want to get our security deposit back.” The three of them discuss where to safely experiment with the sword. Heppa suggests the sewers, which is too grim for Tric’s liking. Kachen rejects outside of town as too far of a hike. The worst thing Heppa has ever done in a magical mishap is set a bush on fire, so outside seems the best place for this. Ultimately they settle on the courtyard of the abandoned manor near the river. Heppa gathers up her writing supplies so that she can take thorough notes, and they head out.
Once at the elvish embassy—as Tric jokingly refers to the place—Heppa positions herself with the poor old tree to her back and sets her sights on a piece of rubble crumbled at the side of the ruined house. Kachen used the sword for an attack, so that is what Heppa plans to do as well. Gripping the hilt firmly in her right hand, she raises the sword above her head and then snaps it down as she channels fae energy through it to summon brambles. Vines burst forth, whipping out of the end and crashing into the rubble. They hit harder than the brambles she can cast on her own, much like ones from her grandmother’s wand. The kickback, though, is more than she was expecting. When the sword swings back up, the vines whip back toward Heppa slamming into her hard enough to raise welts. She has a new personal understanding of the problematic nature of this sword.
“Are you okay?” Tric asks, rushing up to Heppa and pressing a hand on the bleeding gash across her forehead. Kachen, meanwhile, deftly relieves her of the sword. As soon as the implement is in his control instead of hers, the primal brambles dissipate.
“Ow! That sword is so hard to control,” Heppa murmurs, sounding dazed. “Vines everywhere!”
Tric grimaces at Heppa’s injuries. “There there, it’s not so bad.” He does not sound very convincing.
“Primal energy wants to be free,” Heppa says. “We’re not ripping it from the aetherium, we’re channeling it through ourselves. It wants to be manifested. Those vines didn’t want to be contained.”
“It’s not so bad,” Tric repeats with more confidence.
“But you directed your energy through the sword,” Kachen says to Heppa. “It doesn’t seem to matter where that energy is coming from—the fae currents you have versus the aetherium. The sword requires a disciplined approach to wield.”
It sounds like humans really have to work hard to get magic. Access to magic is so much easier for elves. It’s so great to be a magical creature, Heppa muses.
“It’s not so bad!” Tric concludes, dismissive of the injuries that he has now talked down from their previously inflamed state. His magic has taken away most of their sting. With that done, Tric turns to Kachen, looking at the sword in the human’s hand. “So is this sword cursed because you have to control it in this way? Or is this just the way these kinds of artifacts work?”
“The sword is not cursed,” Kachen says. “That’s not what curses do.”
“Do you mind if I take a look?” Tric asks, holding out a hand.
“By all means, go ahead. You still own it.”
“Just be careful! But yes, you should totally try it out,” Heppa encourages.
Tric holds the sword before him. It is a sunny day, and the weapon glints quite a bit as he spins it, playing with the light. He decides to cast an illusion, restoring the manor to its prior glory. Well, to some glory, anyway. “Do you ever wonder what this place looked like before it was ruined?” he asks his companions. “When this tree had a partner tree right there.” He points across the open space with the sword. With his words, he paints a picture of a fine elvish building and a lush garden with many trees. In place of the well is a sparkling fountain. It looks more like Volas’s home than the building that stood here before Sleidr’s attack led to its collapse. “See? This could be the elvish embassy. The elm growing right there, the wood mixed in with the stonework. For just a moment… Ow!” As the estate takes shape in the eyes of his audience, the spinning of the sword gets a little out of control, and Tric nicks the fingers on his opposite hand.
“Oh, you’ve cut yourself on the sword!” Heppa exclaims, looking at her cousin now instead of his illusion. She pulls out a cloth to dab at the cuts. “I don’t think that sword is for me,” she tells Kachen as she takes care of the injury.
“I think it is probably not for me, either,” Tric agrees, reversing his grip to hand the sword to Kachen while Heppa works on his off hand. “This is—or could be—a very nice embassy,” Tric reiterates. He keeps the illusion up for as long as he can. “What do you think, Heppa? All that?”
Kachen’s eyebrows are raised in appreciation at the extent of the illusion, but he exhibits no surprise that Tric could produce one. “An impressive piece of work,” he compliments. It occurs to Tric that human magic must be able to do this too, given that Kachen made Heledd an artifact that produces an illusory Rhaessa.
“It looks really good,” Heppa tells Tric.
“Maybe one day,” Tric says.
“Looking to move into town?” Kachen asks dryly.
“I don’t know if I’m at that point yet, but with some work, maybe down the road. We’ll see,” Tric says.
“I’m not saying I’m a druid, but maybe while we’re here, I can at least give this tree a little help,” Heppa says, and Tric mentions his plans to plant a wose seed. Heppa suggests two, for company. While a bemused Kachen watches, the elves engage in a bit of gardening. Unfortunately, the soil here is of low quality. They make plans to acquire some gourd compost following the festival.
“So, will you sell me the sword?” Kachen eventually asks. Tric starts haggling a bit so that Kachen will feel like he earned it and is not indebted to the elves.
“If you have anything from the Book of Rhys, we could take that to Daddy,” Heppa suggests. “That’s exactly what he was looking for. All we have is the Lay of Gritta.”
“All of my notes on the book are with the orcish forces,” Kachen says grimly.
Given the implement’s flaws, they ultimately settle on a hundred coins. That is less than a proper sword would go for, but Kachen has no intention of ever wielding it that way. Tric agrees to the price, with the additional stipulation that Kachen owes him a favor down the road someday. Kachen mulls this over for a moment. Although he is not generally inclined to agree to such unspecified terms, he trusts Tric enough to accept.
Recognizing the degree of confidence placed in him, Tric puts a reassuring hand on Kachen’s shoulder. “Things are good in the forest right now, but I don’t know if that is always going to be the case,” he says. Kachen nods in understanding, knowing all too well what sort of forces have lately taken to wandering the edges of the Estmark Hills.
“You know, you could build up a little muscle with that sword,” Heppa says, oblivious to the subtleties of that exchange. “And it would be good to know how to use a sword if we’re going to travel to get your things back from the orcs. You can use swords for things that aren’t magic,” she points out. “They’re good for defense and very easy to learn.”
“I do not have the physique of a swordsman,” Kachen wryly observes.
“Nobody starts with the physique of a swordsman,” Tric quips. “Most people start as babies.”
“I can use a sword,” Heppa says. “I can show you a few things.”
“I did not come all this way for sword lessons,” Kachen replies, a bit exasperated by Heppa’s heavy-handed prodding. “We should talk about the information for you to take back to your father.”