"Congratulations, Auntie." Aran needed sheer willpower to hold back his laughter as he hugged her. "It's a staff!"
***
To avoid any future trouble, nadion introduced the new Sage Staff to the rest of the family. Everyone who knew about Solus' real nature understood the truth and avoided glancing at Jirni and Orion before congratulating Ripha.
Ryla and Garrik had little understanding of the Forgemastering arts, yet they still found in poor taste the use of Balor's eyes for the artifact.
"Ewww!" The young Fomor said. "That's disgusting, Uncle Lith. Balors are still humans, you know?"
"anie!" The Sage Staff sobbed, shedding fat elental tears from its eyes. "Garrik no friend. Garrik bad!"
"It talks?" Everyone said in surprise.
"Yes." Solus scratched her head in embarrassnt. "It's still young, so cut it so slack and don't be surprised if the Staff says sothing silly."
"I'm so sorry! I didn't an to offend you." A talking staff was nothing big in Garrik's life. He was already used to making small talk with Ragnarök, Grimlock, and Skywarp. "It's just… your eyes."
"No like them?" The Staff rushed into Solus' bosom, whining like a puppy. " ugly or he an?"
"Neither." Solus patted the top of the wood. "Let him finish."
"I an, they belonged to a Balor." Garrik didn't know how to express how he felt without sounding like a monster. "Soone like my mother and ."
"So, we relatives?" The Sage Staff jumped to him like a person on one leg.
"Sort of." Garrik gave up and caressed the Yggdrasil wood, which emitted weird purring sounds upon contact.
"Mind if I take a look?" Orion couldn't stop his hands from shaking in excitent. "A talking weapon with a design worthy of a Royal Forgemaster. This is truly the proof of the unbound talent of Master nadion."
"A look, no. A spell or breathing technique, very much so." Ripha raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing of the sort. I promise." Orion sighed.
He was secretly tempted to take a peek, but he was a huge fan of the first Royal Forgemaster. The idea of betraying his idol's trust and losing any opportunity to receive her teachings was more than his pride as a Forgemaster could bear.
"It's a wonderful piece." Even without spells, Orion could feel the smooth mana flow of the artifact and appreciate the groundbreaking configuration of its elental crystals. "Poor Vorgh. Once this beauty becos public knowledge, he'll never hear the end of it."
"Thanks." The Sage Staff replied. "You cute too!"
"Then I'll try to put in a good word for him." nadion replied, taking the Staff back. "I only took inspiration from his brilliant performance. I didn't crack the cloaking runes of his staff, and for sure I didn't copy its enchantnts.
"To be honest, I didn't expect it to co out this well, let alone to develop a sort of sentience."
She mixed lies and truth to spin a believable story, like she had learned from Lith over the years. After all, the enchantnts were all original spells Lith and Solus had co up with.
Even Jirni suspected nothing, but the events still brought up questions.
'I've lived in the Mansion and in Lith's ho in Lutia for a long while now, yet I haven't found a single clue about the location of his lab.' She pondered. 'They are located sowhere else.
'A place he has easy access to and that is known to the vast majority of his family. I know every mage protects his secrets, but why does Lith hide his lab from Orion and , even though my daughters and their husbands know about it?
'What could it possibly contain that's so precious Lith thinks it might arouse our greed and bring us to renege on our alliance with him to get our hands on it?'
"I never doubted the originality of your craft." Orion nodded. "I was wondering, how did Ragnarök react to the newest mber of the family? I an, this is the first quasi-sentient weapon that didn't co from my Forge."
The other three semi-sentient weapons considered themselves siblings, yet they didn't care much about each other's existence. They lived and sparred together, returning to their respective masters as soon as they could.
"It didn't." Solus cleared her throat. "We have yet to make the introductions."
She stared at Lith, silently begging him to keep the angry sword under control and not humiliate her by disclosing the Staff's first words or Solus' "motherhood".
Her worries proved to be unfounded, because Ragnarök had plans of its own.
"Stand back, master!" The angry sword's latches clicked into a growl as it placed itself between Lith and the Sage Staff. "Intruder bad! I protect!"
" bad? You bad!" The Staff hissed in anger.
The three Balor eyes facing Ragnarök looked daggers at it, and the angry blade's hilt crystals glowed in what was unmistakably a glare.
"Monster! Abomination!" Ragnarök growled.
"Poisoner! Carrion eater!" The Staff barked. [AN: pun intended.]
"Enough!" Lith felt like soone stepping between a dog and a cat, ready to tussle. "Ragnarök, this is the Sage Staff. Solus' weapon. Be nice to… her."
"What?" The angry blade was flabbergasted and moved a bit closer to sniff at the wood. "Solus' sll, confird. I'm sorry."
"Staff, this is Ragnarök. Lith's weapon." Solus noticed the Staff's hesitancy to reply. "What do we say when soone apologizes sincerely?"
"You suck!" The Staff gloated. "You wrong, right!"
"Not that!" Solus blushed too hard for those words to be sothing other than her own inner thoughts. "The other thing!"
"Oh." The Sage Staff's eyes squinted in sheer focus, trying to rember the alternative. "Apology accepted. We friends?"
Ragnarök looked at Lith, who nodded, before replying:
"Friends."
***
During dinner, it turned out that the Sage Staff could actually drink any liquid poured into a flower pot and eat any food if finely powdered and mixed with the soil.
Oddly enough, after trying several kinds of foods, the Sage Staff mostly drank water and ate salad, making the kids snicker many, many tis at Solus' expense.
After the al, Tista invited Solus to her quarters, and she gladly accepted.
"Your new weapon looks amazing, Solus." She said, pouring a cup of tea for her friend.
"Thanks. Too bad that now I'll need more grueling sessions of training to learn how to use it." Solus inwardly thanked her friend for making no ntion of the salad accident.
"I got used to the old staff, and the new one is literally a different beast. I need to forget most of what I know and learn from scratch."
"Tell about it." Tista replied. "Firefang is a battle claw similar to Sunder, but I'm not used to its enchantnts. Erghak says that the Fire Dragons used the Ears to make it, but I haven't been able to conjure a single Blade Spell."
"That's because using the Ears to Forgemaster sothing is not the sa as using it to Forgemaster a Blade Weapon." Solus pointed out. "Even if the Fire Dragons did their best, it might not be enough."
"I know." Tista groaned. "Still, if Lith is busy and you need a sparring partner, you can count on . Divine Beasts are tough opponents, and you can't afford to get taken down in one hit the next ti you fight an Upyr."
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