“Of course, of course.” Sheridan shook their mug-carrying hand. “Family is most important, after all. And after all the tragedy you’ve suffered, I’m certain you couldn’t bear to lose someone else.”
Sheridan set the mug down, allowing them to make an exaggerated shrug with both hands. “But my loyalty is to Wydd first, and thus, I am bound to secrecy. Your friends have offered to exchange a few curios for the service, but are such trinkets worth the value of my word? Surely not.”
I lifted my gloved hand in a warding gesture. “I would not dare to insult you with the implication that you would accept a mere trifle in exchange for defying your sacred vows. But perhaps you would accept a trade that even Wydd would approve of?”
Sheridan fluttered their eyes. “If such a thing were to make itself manifest, surely I would consider it.”
“Allow me to begin by offering a small secret, but one of great personal significance.”
I slipped the glove off my right hand, displaying my new Arbiter attunement.
One of Sheridan’s eyebrows raised a fraction. “My, my. When someone banters about trading with a visage, I generally presume it to be all sand and no salt. I wasn’t aware you were an authority on the subject. Consider me thoroughly intrigued.”
Sheridan leaned a hair closer to me, then abandoned the slightness of that gesture to push themselves off the table and walk right up to me. “May I?”
I wasn’t quite sure what the question was. “Of course.”
Sheridan took my hand in theirs, lifted it to their mouth, and kissed my attunement mark.
I blinked, taking a step back unconsciously and breaking their hold.
What?
Ick.
“Fascinating. Just forged, but such potential.” Sheridan smiled. “Yes, quite delightful. Sit. Tell me what you have to offer.”
I stared blankly for a moment, trying to process whether or not Sheridan had just used some kind of identification magic on my attunement during that exchange, or if they were just being strange.
After deciding that the answer was probably both, I backed away and took a seat as instructed. I took a breath, considering where to start. “Would you have any interest in learning about Pre-Attunement Era sorcery?”
“A good thought, but I already know about it. You’ll need to do better than that. And before you offer me any sorcery-imbued trinkets, be aware that your friends have already tried that. Unless you’re hiding away any legendary artifacts, I’m not interested.”
I glanced from side to side.
We…sort of are hiding some legendary artifacts, aren’t we?
But Sheridan doesn’t know that, do they?
I couldn’t tell, but I wasn’t going to let the conversation jump in that direction.
“Perhaps you’d be more interested in something more conventional, then?” I shifted in my seat, allowing me to reach the pouch on my side. Then I pulled out the newly-made bracer of regeneration. “A new take on a ring of regeneration. Wydd would approve of taking something representing innovation, perhaps?”
“I’m certain it’s lovely, but traditional innovation more of Tenjin’s purview. Or Ferras’, depending. Unless it regenerates something other than the body, I’m afraid it’s not forbidden knowledge, and thus it’s outside of Wydd’s domain.”
“Well,” I reached into my bag again. I’d planned on the conversation going this direction. I’d counted on it. “That bracer may only regenerate the body, but this one,” I removed the other new bracer from my bag, “Does something more.”
Sheridan looked the bracer over, inspecting the runes. I didn’t know if they could read them. “Oh? Something to repair bone more effectively, perhaps?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s much better than that. This is a bracer of mana regeneration.”
Sheridan chuckled. “Something that poisons the wearer isn’t exactly the world’s greatest gift, darling.”
Sera shot me a quizzical look. I’d told her that mana storage and regeneration items were impossible when she’d asked for one a few weeks before.
Weeks ago, I hadn’t known how to make one.
I smiled. I’d worked until late at night on it.
I was nearly certain it would work the way I wanted.
I clipped the bracer onto my wrist. “You’re aware, of course, that such poisoning is because of contamination from the creator’s mana?”
Sheridan nodded. “I am a healer, Master Cadence. Of course I’m aware of that. Meaning that if you’re about to show me how it works on yourself, that’s not proof of anything. Yes, you can probably make an item that regenerates your own mana safely. Presuming that you continuously recharge it yourself. Clever, but of limited usefulness to you, and completely useless to anyone else.”
I allowed myself to smile, feeling an uncommon bit of pride. “You’re quite right — that’s the best an ordinary Enchanter could do. I did manage to find discussions of an Emerald-level enchantment for mana regeneration that works, but it’s never been popular due to the extreme cost. It has standard functions for recharging its own mana, much like the healing ring does, but that’s only a small portion of the item.
“The majority of an Emerald-level mana regeneration item’s runes work toward purifying the mana inside it, making the item inefficient. But what if a purification function wasn’t necessary?”
Sheridan’s eyes flashed. “Your Arbiter attunement. You believe that if you enchant an item with purified mana, the mana it regenerates over time will also be untainted?”
“Allow me to demonstrate.” I closed my eyes, forming a crystal in my hand, and then took out my mana watch. My mana in my hand registered 81/85. I showed Sheridan the display. “Normally, I regain my mana over the course of an hour. Thus, regaining three mana would ordinarily take me just about two minutes.”
I pressed the rune on the bracer, activating it. “I used up all the mana that I initially filled it with. The only mana inside the bracer now should be mana generated by the item’s regeneration runes.” I pointed at the appropriate runes to illustrate. “It will quickly recharge my mana with the amount that it has stored within. It also has runes to detect my maximum mana, and will not attempt to recharge me when I’m full.”
I tapped my hand with the mana watch again. It had only been seconds, but my mana registered 85/85 now. I didn’t feel any new discomfort, although my hand was still in enough pain from the night before that I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to tell.
This was a bit of a gamble. I wasn’t certain that the mana inside the device was pure. But if it wasn’t pure, it was probably the same composition as my original mana, and therefore not harmful to me.
Whether or not it would be harmful to someone else was more questionable.
I showed her the display. “When the bracer runs out of stored mana, it will continue to assist my mana regeneration as quickly as it regains its own mana. And that’s at a rate of —”
Sheridan raised a hand. “That’s quite enough. You want to offer me something experimental? Something that might not even work properly, and that obviously could be dangerous to the user?”
“I’m reasonably confident that it will work… But yes.”
“How absolutely delightful. What’s that other trinket there, the one that you’re using to measure your mana? I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”