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[sythyry]

In Which Vae Is A Monster, Redux, part 3 [27 Hivvem 4261]

Me:"Now that I have duly admired your treasure room and your pot of healing goop, shall we depart from out this place, to return to the realms illuminated by the spinning sun?"

Vae:"And what?"

Me:"I have been spending too much time with Ghirbis. Shall we go home?"

Vae:"And you will see the rest later?"

Me:"There's more?"

Vae:"The yes!"

Me:"I have apologies for you! I did not know!"

This was seeming far less doomsome than any previous interesting time that I had spent with Vae. So I did not demand that she take me home at once. You may say that this is unwise -- that it is foolish -- that it is insane. I would not argue with you if you said so.

Vae:"Then observe this!"

She opened another drawer, and showed me a big bowl of blue glass, with a mighty Healoc Aquador enchantment on it. Mighty, but straightforward. It purified water. It looked as though it could purify a lake.

Me:"That looks as though it could purify a lake."

Vae:"The yes!"

Me:"Do you have a lake that needs purifying?"

Vae:"Not the yes!" Which, in the Nice Language, is a more natural way of saying "no" than "The no!" would be. Neither of them is at all natural in Ketherian, which is what we were speaking.

Me:"Then why do you need a bowl that purifies lakes?"

Vae:"Not I is it who needs a bowl that purifies lakes."

Me:"Then why do you want a bowl that purifies lakes?"

Vae:"Look at it!"

I looked at it for some minutes, and even used the Eye of Mirizan and Melizan.

Me:"Prof. Gostegg will be supremely disappointed in me, but, as far as I can tell, it is nothing more than a blue glass bowl which casts a Healoc Aquador spell strong enough to purify a lake. It was made by a Rassimel, who used a Glory of Merklundum, and, I guess, A Measured Balance. That means it's under three centuries old, because someone who gets mentioned far too often around me came up with A Measured Balance three centuries ago."

Vae was listening to me with considerable interest. "Not I knew the most of that! How do you tell?"

I'm pretty sure it's not a violation of any principle of laws or ethics that I answered her question. Besides, she doesn't know Enchantment at all, and couldn't understand most of what I said.

Me:"So, what am I missing about this mysterious and subtle enchantment?"

Vae:"The nothing? It's more you know about it than me, by half and then half again."

Me:"Then why do you have it?"

Vae:"It's pretty!"