"What do you mean?"

"The sword was enchanted as well. It can cut through virtually anything, and the blade is made of Adamantite, which means that I don't think there's anything you could do to it to break it. That sword will go right through the magical defense of the bracers, so testing the bracers with it is not a good idea," she winked.

Tarrin looked at the sword in awe. It could cut through anything? Well, she said almost anything. It didn't seem that sharp, and it didn't really feel magical, not like the bracers did.

Or did it?

Tarrin held the hilt firmly in his hand and tried to feel the sword. He closed his eyes and tried to really feel it, to feel past what his fingers sensed, to reach beyond to where those ghostly images of strings were, always just on the edge of his vision but never intruding to the point where they interfered. He ignored that most of the time, but now he wanted to look into it, he wanted to feel what was on that other side.

It was there. He could feel it now. It was an exceptionally powerful enchantment, but it had been actively concealed so as not to give away the true nature of the weapon. It was almost like an army hiding in the fog, a tremendous force hiding behind a veil of ambiguity. The weaving was crisp, exacting, detailed, and it was absolutely flawless. It had Jenna's hands all over it. He recognized the style of that weaving almost immediately. It was the same style of concealing weave that been in the amulets back on Sha'Kari, but had been modified to conceal the active weave hidden within the sword.

For the briefest fleeting of moments, close to the Weave, Tarrin almost felt like another person. He could feel something close to him, and he could feel the power of the Weave all around him, very strong, almost alluring in its enticing closeness. An entire lifetime of forgotten memories seemed tantalizingly close to him in that fleeting sensation, but they were like a cloud. Sharp and detailed from a distance, but hazy and indistinct the closer one got to them.

Tarrin nearly felt like his eyes were going to pop as a shockwave of pain roared through his mind. He had remembered! It was just a flash, but it was the most detailed flash of memory he had yet to experience! He absolutely knew that Jenna had made the magic in the sword and the bracers, and for that one fleeting moment, he could feel the closeness of the Weave, could sense its power, almost beckoning to him. Tarrin flopped back in his seat and put a hand to his forehead, but he had a big smile. "Jenna, I remembered!" he said excitedly. "I wanted to see if there really was a magic spell in the sword, and for a short moment, remembered something!"

"What did you remember?" she asked quickly.

"I recognized the style of weaving used on the sword, and I remembered that the concealing weave in the sword was based on the ones in the amulets back in Sha'Kari. I have no idea what half of that means, but I remembered it!"

"You did? That's wonderful!" Jenna said happily, clapping her hands and then hugging him. "Kimmie said that you'd possibly have more detailed flashes of insight over time. I see she wasn't wrong!"

"I hope it happens again, but next time without the headache," he said, rubbing his temple delicately.

Jenna laughed. "She said the headaches would be part of the remembering," she warned him. "But it's good to see that you are getting back some of it, even if it is in bits and pieces. I hope that means that Phandebrass' potion is going to work perfectly."

"Well, I hope so," he said. "You said that the bracers do two things. What's the other?"

She grinned. "You're like a child with a new toy," she teased.

"I just don't want to sneeze and blow something up by accident," he warned.

Jenna laughed richly. "Well, I guess I can see that," she winked. "I wouldn't want you going around knocking down walls. The repair bills would be ghastly." She chuckled with him, then put her hand on the bracer. "They don't blow things up, but their second function is a weapon," she told him seriously. "I made them so you'll never be unarmed. Mother told me to name them the Cat's Claws, and I think that tells you what they do."

Tarrin looked down at the two black metal bracers. "Claws come out of them?" he asked. "From where?"

"It's a bit more involved than that," she said. "Let me show you." Jenna reached down and put her hand over one of the bracers, and he felt something strange happen. She had done something to them, and he realized that she had triggered them with her magic.

Tarrin had had his hand out to look at the bracer, and he was amazed at what he saw. The metal of the bracer seemed to turn liquid, and it flowed over the back of his hand. It felt strangely warm as it did so, very quickly, like a black shadow racing down his hand, over his knuckles, and over his fingers. The metal encased the back of his hand and fingers and when it reached his fingertips, it kept going out, extending over his fingertips and forming very long, slightly curved and hooked metal claws. But where a cat's claw was thick, these metal claws were as thin as dagger blades, sharp only on the inside curve, and ending in a very wicked looking point. They were extending a good span over his fingertips, and they had almost no apparent weight.

"And that," Jenna said with a smile, "is why they're called the Cat's Claws."

Tarrin stared at the weapon merged with his hand in awe. He had full flexibility in his hand, as the liquid-seeming metal moved with his hand. It didn't even pull at the hairs on his fingers. The metal was like a part of his skin, moving just as easily, and was not uncomfortable in the slightest. The metal only covered the back of his hand, leaving his palm clear. The four individual claws reaching out over his fingers seemed attached to the tips, moving with them. He turned his hand over and very slowly and carefull closed his hand, watching the claws fold over with his fingertips until the four inside edges were just barely touching the heel of his hand.

"Don't worry about these," she told him. "They won't ever cut you. If you close your fist, they'll simply bend around your skin. You can even make them release from your fingers and stick straight out from the top of your fist if that's what you want. These are Adamantite too, so I don't think anyone's going to manage to cut your hand off while the claws are active."

Tarrin looked down at it, amazed by it. What amazing things! And they were his! To own even one magical object was something the richest man could only dream of, but to own three! It was almost unreal! His amulet, the sword, and these amazing bracers! How much luck could one family have?

"Do you like them?" Jenna asked with a smile.

"Like them? Jenna, I don't know what to say!" he exclaimed. "They're incredible! How can I ever match gifts like these?"

"It's very simple, brother," she said soberly. "You can live. I made these specifically to help you. Don't forget what's out there. I think these will help you stay alive, and so I made them for you. I'll do whatever I can to help keep you alive, because you're my brother, and I love you."

It was said in a calm voice, but he could see the emotion behind her eyes. She meant every word of it, and for the first time, he saw how worried she was about him. He couldn't remember what had happened to him or what he was doing, but that one statement rammed home the fact that it was very dangerous more effectively than anything else ever could have. He had seen the waiting as a chore, something of an obstacle, but he saw that to Jenna it meant precious time to arm her brother as best she could so when he did leave the safety of the Tower, he would be as safe as he could be. He remembered someone saying that the only reason they'd come back to the Tower was because it was the safest place to take him, but even its sanctuary wouldn't last. As the time of the staff's activation grew nearer, those desperate to gain its power would be willing to risk assaulting the Tower itself in order to somehow achieve the nearly impossible, to take the staff from him. He realized what kind of a terrible risk that Jenna had taken bringing him out of the Tower, and with only two Knights, but he could also see that as his sister, she had done what she thought would be most comfortable for him. He had been very upset by Jesmind destroying his room, and she had done this, taken this risk, because she had wanted to cheer him up and not terrify him with the realities of his situation. Bringing him out into the city with only two Knights let him feel normal, if only for a little while, and for the first time he understood that. It had felt nice to be able to walk out into a crowd, even if the crowd was trying to mob Jenna with kindness and good intentions.