Kazue watched with close attention this time as Mordecai assembled the staff. ‘Tricky’ was underselling it, though she felt that she could get it down with some practice. And he was taking his time to show her the process instead of using the temptes he’d already created. The first part was the design, of course, you had to know what you wanted exactly. The math he showed her to calcute the precise yout of the studs of different materials was far less plicated than the spatial stuff that had made her itch. Then once you had the exact schemati mind, you take the formus for the materials you were going to use, and you filled the appropriate ses of the schematic with the representation of those formus. This meant that the more materials and the more plicated the materials and their formus, the harder it was to hold everything together at ohen you fill it with i and mana.

  Mana would bring it ience, i would affect its magical properties. Some forms of i were straightforward, such as the i of an item being loot or being dungeon items not inteo be removed, such as the table he’d crafted. They each had their own pool of mana to draw from and different limitations in what they could do. Other aspects of i were more subtle and less predictable, such as the i he’d asked her to focus on, the i of this being also a gift of love for her mother. And his own i was a trickle of mana to keep the wood alive despite not being part of a tree. The staff finished maing but he gave her a mental o tinue fog her i oaff with a trickle of mana, and she could feel him doing the same with his i.

  The part he expined out loud, giving Moriko and Aia a ce to be drawn into the discussion about the staff that now y across their ps. “Now, the reason for the plicated design ‘just’ to present this sele of knobs at the ends has to do with the presence of the correct amount of mass of each material. If you could simply stick a few small studs of cold iron and silvered steel through the end of the staff and be able to beat up faeries and lythropes alike, there are plenty of crafters skilled enough to make su item. But every material with a mystic effect like that has a resonance of its own. To create an impact with the effeore thaerial, they have to be banced and harmonized precisely. Teically, someoh the right materials, tools, knowledge, and experience might be able to bawo or three materials, but it would take an incredible amount of tedious work to fiuhe materials while bringing them together, and the bondiween them would never be as plete as what a dungeon make. The ability to make true seamless posite materials, where they interlock as tightly with each other as the materials interlock with themselves, is essentially limited to beings who directly create matter. Outside of dungeons and beings with at least a touch of divinity, it would take an incredibly talented specialist mage to do it. If I was going to try to find one, I’d start with the elves.” He paused in sideration, then looked to Aia, who shook her head as she uood his silent question.

  “No, that sort of study is for the halls of academia. Druids, priests, and sorcerers are the sort you are most likely to find in the . With the occasional witch or such.” She added with a smile, sidering the talents of her own chosen heir.

  Mordeodded, then tinued. “There may be others, dragons who studied crafting and creation perhaps, but they will be rare and without the particur magic-riviro of a dungeon it will be much more expensive and time-ing. Amongst the mortal, or at least not divine, creatures of the world, creation is the unique specialty of dungeons.”

  Everything he was saying made seo Kazue, it entirely lined up with her experiences. But it was bringing up the question of ‘why’. Unfortunately, that did not seem like the sort of question that was going to have a quid answer, nor did she have any idea if Mordecai khe answer, so she decided to refrain for now.

  Moriko sighed. “Man, I really want one of those as a Bo Staff. I wish I could cim dungeooo.” Kazue and Moriko felt a sudden wash of smug amusement from Mordecai, and they both gave their husband a suspicious look. What did he have in mind?

  “About that.” He began, then looked to Aia. “Matriarch, I’d like to discuss a trade with you, though five me for doing this piecemeal. I’ve been experimenting with a cept, and I o do this right. First, there is a type of magic item I would like to study for a projeihere are several forms of taio produdless amounts of water or other liquids, a useful survival tool. However, there are a few variants that are also desigo be able to push forth a high volume, high-pressure stream, making them simultaneously useful as a backup on or a digging tool for soft ground, and the occasional firefighting. How many staves would be required to pensate for one of those.”

  Kazue pondered what he was asking, a a little tug at her attention. There was a swirl of mana beginning to form between them, and she realized she’d felt a smaller, simpler version of whatever was shaping here when Mordecai had ducted trades on their behalf before. What was he up to? She saw Moriko peer around him to give Kazue a questioning look, and she just shrugged.

  Aia shifted her body nguage and expression, sidering the question from the point of view of the 's needs. “Given the limited avaibility of these new, valuable items that may be able to bear iing entments, I would say six of them. Four as regur staves, two in the form of a Bo Staff. That is what I will accept iurn for a high-pressure deter.”

  That mana was densing and pulling in even more energy as Mordecai spoke again. “I agree to that offer as the first part of our bargain.” Kazue watched as part of the swirling energy suddenly locked into a distinct pattern. “Now, given the dition that you are in the possession of those six, how many more would you want in order to ent two of the ones you already own, say a bo staff and a mage's staff suitable for a psychid trade them back to the dungeon?”

  Aia narrowed her eyes as she thought, and Kazue’s core began to itch agaiually the matriarch replied “Four more of each style.”

  “So eight unented staves in exge for two ented ones of the same style. Agreed?” Mordecai pulled his neckce out of his shirt. “And to be clear, this is sidered a mutual promise.”

  The matriarch hesitated a moment to sider everything, then nodded, rose from her seat to walk over to them, aended her hand to shake his. “Agreed.”

  The moment the two shook hands, that energy Kazue had been watg solidified into a symmetrical pattern, then split in half along the axis of symmetry. One half sank into Aia, the other half flew up into the ceiling to sink into the core and bind itself there.

  Mordecai sighed with relief and sank bato the couch. “Excellent, it ted. I knew I could do it as two separate transas over time, the sed only when the first was pleted, but I wasn’t sure if I could bihem like that.”

  “I am surprised to hear you are still learniricks like that” Aia said as she returo her seat. Moving would have been tricky for Mordecai or Kazue, as they were still maintaining their trickle of i into the staff while keeping tact. Then she paused as a thought caught up and she looked sharply at Kazue. “Psychic? Bah, no wonder we never had any luck figuring out her magic. I ’t recall there ever being a psychi the before. But then, her father is a human, so that might expin it.”

  Kazue perked up at the mention of her dad. “Oh! I didn’t think to ask before! Do you know where he is? I sent a letter to try and chase down his caravan, but I didn’t know where to start so just listed a set of his stops that I know.” Her father had a general pattern but altered it to aodate what he believed was going to sell well in a particur market, taking oime purchases in addition to his steady trade items.

  Aia swore softly. “I didn’t think to locate him after your mot her letter from you, she was too excited to think straight and it was all I could do to keep her from rushing here immediately without even pag travel supplies. Which means he probably doesn’t know you are reinated yet. Your mother found him in time for your funeral, and they were both a mess, but one only mourn for so long before you have to start living your life again, so he made his way back to his caravan about a month ago. So I’m sorry, I have no idea if your letter has reached him yet or not.” She grimaced. “As soon as she realizes that she fot to make sure your dad knew, she’s going to want to go rushing off. Let’s try to keep her in for the night so she gets some proper rest first at least.”

  Kazue nodded mutely, tangled up in a web of emotions. She hadn’t dwelled on her parent’s grief before, mostly because it hurt too much to think of them hurting like that, and she wished she could just fly to her father and tell him it was actually OK. But she couldn’t, so she took a few slow breaths to calm down and cleared her throat. “Well, what’s on the agenda?”

  Mordecai kissed her forehead. “Not much for a little bit, though it looks like they are starting to pull themselves together again. We should see some excitement before too long.”

  Zagaroth