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Rhea was paying so little attention by this time that she wasn't shielding herself anymore at all, and without looking she raised one hand to block Cindy's poke, not even realizing that she was doing so.

"He's here," she said softly, her eyes sparkling brightly with excitement. She jumped to her feet and grabbed Cindy's hand, tugging her towards the door of the study. "He's here, Cindy! Come on!"

Rhea giggled and let go of Cindy's hand, pulling the door open and rushing out into the living room without her.

Aragost had indeed arrived, and he was talking with Shael in the living room, right near the door to outside, though it was closed. In his hand, he held a tall staff that was just as tall as he was, easily twice Shael's current height. It was made of a light coloured wood, perhaps oak or something similar, and all through the wood were veins of a pale silvery substance that seemed not only to sparkle in the light that shone in through the window, but that seemed to pulse with a life of its own.

As Rhea ran into the room, Aragost stopped talking and instead simply held the staff out to the girl.

"Your mother has been told all you need to know concerning this staff," he said in his rasping voice. "Use it."

Rhea blinked and took the staff in both hands. It was surprisingly light for its size, and very warm. She looked up at Aragost. "Thank you," she said softly, eyes wide with awe.

But before she could say anything more, Aragost turned to the door and left.

Rhea agreed with Cindy's sentiment whole-heartedly. "Mama, why does he leave like that?" she asked with a slight frown. "He didn't even say goodbye ..."

She gripped the staff tightly in her hands and looked up at her mother with a lost look in her eyes.

Shael smiled and knelt awkwardly in front of her daughter, hugging her close. "Don't you worry about him," she murmured. "That's just the way he is ... perhaps someday he'll stay to talk to you."

She looked up at Cindy. "You should know about the staff as well," she said softly. "Why don't we all sit down and I can tell you what he told me ..."

Rhea hopped ahead of Cindy, holding the staff carefully in her hands so that she wouldn't knock anything over with it. She knew already that she was going to have to have lessons on how to use it - not only for the magic aspect, but also - and perhaps especially - physically. She wasn't a clumsy child by nature, but she knew that if she wasn't careful, she would cause quite a bit of damage with it.

Shael sat in one of the chairs and nodded at Cindy. "He mentioned that one of your brothers who first came to this world received a similar staff from Elrohir's brother. It is a very special staff, and as far as I know ... at least, from what Aragost told me, this is only the third of its kind ever made. The first was for the first empath, the second for your brother."

Shael's eyes were fixed on the long staff in her daughter's hands.

"The littinum in the staff is of the purest quality," she murmured quietly. "It's worth is quite possibly more than the total amount of gold collected from the slavers in the almost thirty years that the ranch has been operating. I couldn't tell you, I don't know enough about it ... Adonai would have a better idea."

Rhea wasn't quite sure where to sit, so she simply sat on the floor. That way, she reasoned, she would be less likely to hit anyone - or anything.

"I should imagine so," Shael smiled. "I have never seen littinum before ... it is legendary, something that only the richest and most powerful can have ... I believe that those in the Home Guard, the personal guards of the royal families, have littinum weapons and armour, but besides that I have never heard of it used."

She looked once more at Rhea's staff. "Until now."

"It is the only metal that is capable of being combined with magic," Shael explained softly. "The only metal that will not shatter with prolonged and powerful use. In theory ... Rhea will be able to take what she takes from others - that which she channels from them for her own use - and in turn pass it through the staff and into the earth, or whatever she is standing on. That way, if she takes too much of something from someone, she can pass it off so that it is of no danger to her. On the other hand ..."

She hesitated. "If she takes it in such a manner as she drains it as well ... there is no giving it back, if she uses the staff. There are two ways for her to use her empathy: to copy, as she is more intelligent or learns the magic of others; or to take, as in pain, energy ..."