"I have one last thing to do above ground...

"I've not been above a bit of flimflam and theater in my sorcering. When working or contemplating a spell in front of clients or patients I'd fool with my medallion, fingering it meaningfully or swinging it pendulum-wise. My way of reassuring worried clients that I was actually doing something, not just standing around daydreaming. My type of magic is done mostly in the head, and the results are unspectacular: crops grow better, bones heal faster, houses don't fall down. Without the foolery there'd be nothing to see.

"The medallion is a brass trinket with a pretty and meaningless abstract design and all the intrinsic magic of a brick. It's not soaked up power from me as my staff and cloak did; metals don't sponge up magic the way once-living stuff does. But I wore it when I "struck the bargain" here, and I'm wearing it now, and I've worn it most every day in the years between. From the Forest's point of view it's part of me, as much or more so as my nails and fur.

"I finger it now with real meaning, feeling and affirming its connection to me."

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Part 24
Part 26