"Not a stupid one," Liam corrected. "Rain, your new sword is hardened steel, hammered by Tag herself - and that woman knows how to make a good weapon. It's how she ended up here."
"But it's iron!" I insisted. "He knows I can't -"
"The Hunt doesn't like steel either," Aspen pointed out. "That's what it's for, Rain."
"Oh."
"And," Liam continued, "he wanted to make sure your friends - who are all very fae - won't be hurt by it."
"So he hurt himself?!"
"Exactly," Liam said. "Welcome to how they work."
Aspen made a noise, murmuring as she quickly chewed and swallowed. "Sorta. We weigh the pros and cons. I mean, Torian's bad about it, and I can see where Bracken wouldn't be much better. I think they both left Faerie about the same age."
"Yeah, but - "
"No buts," Liam broke in. "Bracken got you the best weapon he could, then put on the strongest spell he could manage."
"Enchantment," Aspen corrected.
"I'm speaking 'Rain' here," Liam told her. "She uses fantasy magic terms."
So I stuck my tongue out at him. "I'm learning!"
"But it's not!" Aspen said. "I can't even call it that!"
"You can if you're speaking 'Rain,'" Liam countered. "Because to Rain, those are the terms she knows."
So Aspen narrowed her eyes. "Big spell. Much wizard?" Then she sucked in a breath. "Oh my god, it works?"
"Because it's true in its own way," Liam assured her. "Now what were you trying to say?"
"That Bracken is very strong in Summer magic, so he made an impressive enchantment," Aspen explained. "I mean, if enchantment is a spell, then the wizard has to be the one casting it, right?"
"Evidently so!" I agreed, shaking my head because that was the closest thing I'd ever heard to a lie come out of her mouth - or any of my friends!
"But he's fine," Liam went on. "Bracken's hand is completely healed now. We made him drink some oak syrup - "
"Nectar," Aspen corrected. "That's the drink made from syrup. It's filtered and becomes nectar." She flashed me an almost shy smile. "I think that's what let me make the joke. Names matter, you know, and your names for things don't need to be the same as ours. Since you can lie, and if you believe it..."
"I will definitely remember that," I decided. "But I want to finish hearing about Bracken!"
"Sorry," Aspen mumbled.
"The nurse healed him." Liam pulled out another slice, bit the tip off, and kept going. "He had his nectar, and now he's sleeping off the damage and lack of magic."
"But I hate that he even did it!" I insisted.
"Don't," Liam said. "Bracken did a good thing. He got you the best sword he could, made it not hurt your friends, and to him it merely required a band-aid. Sure, it hurt, but he's a tough guy, Rain. He's fine. He's more worried about you not having what you need." He flicked a finger at my expensive shoes in the corner.
I dropped my partially eaten slice back onto the plate. "But that's the thing, Dad. I feel like everyone is always helping me out, you know? There are all these things they're doing because I'm this thing, but I don't even know what the thing is supposed to do, or how. I could barely make the shadows come on command earlier!"
"I got this," Aspen said, turning to face me. "Rain, in fae culture, we enjoy helping each other. We also don't like thank yous because they cheapen it."
"Like the makeup you got me?" I asked.
She sucked in a little breath, then glanced at Liam. "Did you?"
