The team was waiting for Shine, and it felt like it had been hours, but in reality it had only been about one.

Oscar lost control to Ozpin after only brief moments of being himself.

The Maidens began to feel their power acting up again too. Whatever had driven them back had worn off.

Qrow struggled to maintain human form, but it felt as if he only just barely succeeded.

Pyrrha, Emerald, and Hazel kept watching the castle with dubious or else somber expressions. The others were almost afraid to even look at it, but they watched for Grimm.

* * *

"You've listened to me this long for a reason." Shine didn't answer Salem's question right off. "Why?"

"You said you would give me what I want," Salem said.

"And what do you want?" Shine asked.

"The Relics," Salem said.

"That is what the gods want you to want." Shine stood up also. "To be reliant on them. Can that be satisfying? Knowing that the only way to get out of this is through them, the same things that made it this way? You lose either way. Unless you could answer their riddle, it's not like they would relent. Don't you feel hopeless?"

"I don't require your counsel on this," Salem said.

"Then I have nothing more to say to you." Shine picked up her bag. "If you don't need my help, then you don't need my help to get the Relics either."

"Do you really wish to incite me into battle?" Salem's eyes glowed red.

Shine stared back, and her eyes flashed gold. "What would that accomplish for you? Has it worked once in thousands of years?"

"This close it would yield results," Salem said.

"And you can be sure they will be the ones you want?" Shine replied. "Defying the gods got you cursed and alone before. Third time? Who knows what they would do? There's always new horrors that can be inflicted. Suppose they strip you of magic this time?"

Salem flinched inwardly... That would truly have left her quite pathetic.

"If you accept our help, that's the best chance of that not happening," Shine said. "But I am asking a lot of you. So I won't demand an answer right now. All I want is that you'll consider it. That's all I came here to accomplish today."

"I thought you wanted to test me," Salem said mockingly.

Shine raised an eyebrow.

Salem frowned.

That was the test.

"Well, the first test--" Shine seemed to read her expression "--was to see if you'd wait at all... Congratulations, you passed that one. I'm encouraged."

"Do not mock me," Salem said.

"I'm quite serious. Ozma didn't do so well." Shine was wise to play that card--only person Salem would have cared about showing up was him.

"Ozma," Salem said quietly. "Yes, he would never agree to any of this... unless he thinks it's possible that it would, in fact, end his curse."

Shine suddenly had a thought that she was surprised she hadn't had before... or if she had, it hadn't been clear enough to be a real plan.

"I don't really rely on his approval," she said aloud. "You would think he'd be in favor of this plan, wouldn't you?"

"That's not the impression I got before," Salem said.

"Well, you'd have to ask him," Shine said, casually enough, with a shrug like it was just a rhetorical remark.

"There's an idea," Salem said, with a sly smile. "Why don't you bring him here?"

"Oh, yes, I would be so foolish as to let you get you close to him again." Shine frowned at her. "Oscar has suffered enough without you torturing him any more. Shame on you."

"He was in my way," Salem said.

"Frankly, Salem, you're in my way, but I'm not resorting to such methods, and it is no excuse," Shine said primly. "And in my personal opinion relying on such tactics does not yield good results. It only shows you're not clever enough to get what you want any other way--or do you just like hurting Ozma?"

Salem certainly did like that.

"You speak of what you do not understand," she said yet again.

"Well, getting in the middle of a lovers' quarrel from hell is not why I came here." Shine made a face. "The point is, you are not trustworthy around him. And frankly, I don't trust him around you either. He's sure to do something stupid."

This only encouraged Salem to think it was a good idea.

"I think if you are going to propose such unprovable theories, I should at least allowed to confer with the only person who's ever even met one of your kind before," she said, in sort of a coaxing tone that Shine knew would have given Ozpin chills.

Shine considered.

"I could ask," she said. "But if he is to speak with you, he'll have guards. And any attempt to capture or torture him will mean the deal is off. We should all stay civil, don't you think?"

"Of course," Salem said.

"I don't trust you," Shine added candidly. "You would get any advantage if you could."

"You think I have no honor," Salem said.

"It is one word I am tolerably sure you have no idea of the meaning of," Shine retorted. "So I have another condition: I want to be able to watch the whole thing."

"I don't think your presence could conduct a very unbiased hearing," Salem replied.

As if hers was any better.

"If I can't be here physically, I want to see what's happening," Shine said. "All of us will want to. But we won't interfere--as long as it's merely a conversation. And as an added incentive... I will give you one of the passwords to the other Relics if these terms are met."

Salem's eyes gleamed.

"Ozma would not agree to that," she said.

"I didn't say I would ask his permission," Shine said. "I know all but one. That's a good start, isn't it? As long you can refrain from any violation of this agreement up till then."

"I am a patient person," Salem said dryly. "What do I have to fear from a few humans on my lawn? But how am I to know you won't try to take the other two Relics while this is going on?"

"Simple: If we were going to do that, we'd have done it before," Shine said. "What's to stop us? And if you really believed we would do that, you'd not have left us alone. You will have to concede at least that I'm serious about not wanting to take them. And you will understand why soon enough, if you meet Ozma."

This was far too much temptation for Salem to pass up, though she would not have acted eager in front of Shine for anything.

"Very well," she said. "I agree to these terms, if only to test if you're lying."

"But of course," Shine said easily enough. "But give me a few hours to arrange it."

"If this is a trick--" Salem began.

Shine gave her such a look of scorn that she didn't finish that. Not that she cared what Shine thought, but... well, no one ever gave her that look. It distracted her.

"You're a very haughty individual," she said after a pause.

"I've been accused of it," Shine shrugged. "You must excuse me. You've no idea how challenging this mission has been."

"For a few months, my pity would not overflow," Salem remarked, bitterly enough for her.

"I'll give you that much." Shine annoyed her by agreeing with her instead of throwing back a snide remark. "I only hope it will all be over soon. Farewell."

She lost no time in leaving after that.

Salem wondered why she'd let her... but then her mind turned to the possibility of getting Ozma's opinion on all this. She might not be able to harm him, not without losing her shot at the Relics, but she fully intended to drive him mad in any way she could outside of that.

* * *

Shine was greeted with more enthusiasm than she expected by the team.

"How did it go?" they all asked.

"You nailed it, right?" Wally tried to boost her confidence.

"I think." Shine tugged her hair. Now that she was out of game mode, she felt less bold. "There is something new--"

"Did she agree yet?" Raven interrupted her.

"You don't seem quite excited enough for that." Pyrrha rubbed her chin.

"No, she hasn't agreed yet," Shine said. "She wants to put it more to the test. I can hardly blame her. The whole thing must sound so unbelievable to her after millennia of nothing."

"Oh, and what does she want? My head on a platter?" Ozpin said. Oscar was somewhere in his mind, barely audible at this moment.

Shine looked at Ozma with an expression he didn't like.

"You're close," she said after a pause.

"What?" Qrow said.

"Salem wants to hear it from Ozma," Shine said, as they all looked rather wan.

"She wants to kill him, more like," Hazel said.

"Or pump him for info," Raven said.

"No, she won't do that," Shine said.

"I know we say this a lot, but... how are you sure?" Jaune asked, a little shrilly.

"Because I made her a deal she won't refuse if she plays nice," Shine said.

"And what could you offer her that she'd want more than my information?" Ozma said.

Shine folded her hands a little uneasily. "Well, that is the part you won't like."

"D--- it!" Qrow said. "You did something crazy."

Winter shoved him.

"I mean reckless," Qrow said.

Shine choked on a laugh. "Okay, just... hear me out. She won't buy any of this if we don't take some risks. I know, we came here, but that's not enough. To her that's nothing. She only cares about a few things. She wants the passwords to the Relics."

"Oh, just give her the world then!" Ozma said dramatically, gesturing wildly.

"I only agreed to give her one." Shine ignored his outburst.

"Oh, only that?" Theo was sarcastic. "Well, no reason to freak out, then."

"Which one?" Pyrrha asked.

"I didn't specify, and we'd better think carefully about it," Shine said. "I'm inclined to give her the Lamp because it's useless, and I have confidence that we'll win and it won't matter. But if we did fail, that one is likely to give her the other three. Granted, if we fail, she'll probably get them anyway, but I knew you would not like the idea."

"You've got that right," Qrow said. "Giving her those is bad enough, but at least she can't use them without the passwords."

"There is one thing about her using them that should be considered before you say no to this," Shine said. "The only one that would measurably hurt us right now is the Sword. Or the Staff. Now, I never liked when they were used, but one interesting thing about it was I wasn't affected by the magic. It stands to reason that if we were under that power, it wouldn't affect any of us."

"So we have a safety net?" Wally said. "Man, I wish I'd known that about the Sword."

 "It depends," Shine said. "Ozpin can clear this up for me. Can the Sword destroy anything at all if you can't see it? What are the limits?"

Everyone looked at Ozpin.

"Hey," Raven said, "she's not wrong, actually... The Sword is only a problem if it fries us or someone else we can't see. If not, West could easily just steal it back from her before she did anything because they aren't frozen in time by the Relics. Salem wouldn't expect that."

"You're not affected by the time dilation?" Cinder said. "Why didn't I know this before?"

"Because it would have only been worse for us if you did," Blake said. "But it's true--when we used the Staff, Shine should have been frozen like Penny, but she wasn't."

"Magic," Shine repeated. "Doesn't work on us, remember?"

"You know, that's just so unfair," Ozpin complained. "You're not subject to the laws of our world."

"Good thing," Pyrrha said meaningfully. "So tell us if that can save us in this case."

"It won't, because even assuming you got the Sword back, she would know the password, and she'd only have to get it later to use it," Ozpin said.

"But I'm guessing it's not as powerful as she thinks it is," Shine said. "She can't wipe out the whole world with it."

"Not with it alone, not in one go," Ozpin said.

"But that's what we've been worried about all this time," Neptune said. "So if she couldn't do that, what was the big deal with her getting it?"

"Does an entire kingdom being laid waste sound negligible to you?" Ozpin snapped. "I won't risk it."

"Just answer the question, Oz." Qrow sounded tired.

"The Sword is limited," Ozpin said. "Like the Staff, it can only destroy once at a time. It can be used on multiple targets, but only one kind of thing. For example, you can't destroy humans and animals at the same time. Or buildings and forests. You have to pick one kind of thing. I unfortunately didn't realize the first time I used it, in The Great War, that you can't specify which humans out of the group in front of you will be destroyed."

Winter frowned. "Do you mean that you destroyed your own troops? You were the king, weren't you?"

"I was, of Vale," Ozpin said. [See World of Remnant video about The Great War for more info on this.]

"That battle went down in history as a blood bath," Qrow recalled. "On both sides. People assumed that was deliberate. Are you saying that it wasn't?"

Ozpin looked guilty. "I swear I didn't know that would happen till it did. The spirits of the Relics don't explain all the details when they do something." [Would be just like djinns. BTW, I am making up the rules of the Sword based on the information I had available, just like the Crown. The show won't get to this for two years at least probably, if at all, and I can't wait that long. We'll see how close I was if they ever put it out there.]

"That's horrifying." Wally could only imagine how he'd feel if he caused that.

"I should have studied history more," Sun muttered.

"By those parameters, you could kill either every human in sight or every Grimm," Raven mused, looking around. "Depending on who uses it... Well, that would have been helpful about 20 times on this journey."

"Could have done more damage than good," Shine said. "Cinder had a Grimm arm, after all. And don't you dare say it."

"I guess there's no point," Raven sighed. "We did decide not to use them..."

"It seems the Relics really work best if you use them together." Pyrrha was thinking. "They all have these unforeseen consequences. The knowledge one is incomplete without power to make good on it. The choice one guides you, but without more knowledge of events it's hard to make good choices based on that information alone, and creation and destruction are both things it's best to do when you've thought it out well. You never used them together?"

"I did," Ozpin said. "In the War... some of them. The Crown told me that using the Sword would end the war--it failed to mention the death toll of doing so in detail. You see, in the end, they aren't perfect."

"And people think the Bible is taken too literally," Shine said to Wally with an eye roll. "Maybe there's a reason it's so specific. I mean, God told the Israelites exactly what to do to win every fight and what would happen, often enough, and that's making it so simple to be prophecy, but when you make it cryptic, you get this."

"No argument here." Wally shook his head. "Dang... that's one of the League's worst nightmares."

"So Salem using the Sword might be our safest option," Jaune said.

"No, give her the Lamp's" Emerald said.

They all looked at her.

"Think about it." She gestured. "If we lose, she gets it anyway, and if we win it won't matter. She still has to wait 100 years to use it for questions thanks to Cinder. I mean the Staff also seems less dangerous--"

"She used that at the Bandit Camp," Cinder reminded them flatly. 

"Oh right," Emerald said. "So... yeah maybe the one that can't be used right now."

"I've been wondering something for some time," Winter said. "Could you have used that Staff to make a prison that Salem couldn't have left and just left it somewhere secure after that? Surely it could have made something impervious to magic if it made those doorways that she can't get through to the Relics."

Everyone turned to stare at Ozpin, who looked... kind of baffled.

"Did you just not think of that?" Yang said incredulously.

"The idea has its risks if anyone was to ever release her..." Ozpin said. "Also I might need to use the Staff for something else."

"Do you mean that you'd rather have the security of possibly using that Staff for yourself than the security of keeping her out of your hair?" Raven said.

"Even the best of plans have flaws," Ozpin said. "I'm sure in the end it would have failed."

Blank stares. [Credit to my sister for helping come up with that little solution--duh. Really shouldn't have made the Relics so OP.]

"Nevermind, this plan is better," Shine finally brushed it off. "Emerald is quite right. And this way, we don't have to give her one she doesn't have anyway."

"At least she hasn't used the Staff since then for some reason," Qrow muttered.

"Lucky that she's not creative at all," Jaune said. "Except at making new Grimm, apparently... But is that really all she wants? To get that from Ozpin and... what, have him tell her our plan will work?"

"A thing I'm not convinced of," Ozpin said.

Shine studied him. "No," she said. "You shouldn't lie to her. But she will not be satisfied unless she talks to you. I want you to speak to her. She won't harm you if she'll get the info out of you freely. Just tell her what you really think. Good or bad."

"Miss Likstar, you really don't want me to do that," Ozpin said to her grimly.

"I really do, actually." Shine was determined. "It's clear to me this won't work if you don't. I realized it while I was talking to her. She might like what I'm saying, but I'm new. You're the only one on her level, in her mind."

"You speak as if she's a normal person," Ozpin said.

Shine became a little miffed.

"You know, did you ever try to see it that way?" she said warmly. "I know you wanted to be with her when you came back. I gathered that much from the story. I can't understand why they let you at all, but regardless, did you keep the truth back? Didn't you ever wonder why they cursed her? Did that bother you? Did it not occur to you to see that as horridly unfair? You just bailed on her when it became complicated! What kind of way to act is that?"

"Shine." Wally held her shoulder. "Is it any good talking about this now? It was thousands of years ago."

Shine drew a deep breath. "Sorry... but even so... who is normal, really? The person who resents the gods for their unfairness, or the person who stubbornly refuses to admit it?"

"Oooh," Raven muttered, like that had felt way too good to hear.

"Oh really, Miss Branwen--" Ozpin turned to her. "Have you forgotten who it was who slaughtered your entire tribe not 3 months ago?"

Raven went white.

"Ozpin!" Weiss was shocked.

"What is he on about?" Meridian didn't know about this.

Weiss whispered to him. And he gasped.

Cinder suddenly looked up sharply.

"Not that it was just her, was it?" Ozpin saw her move. "It was you also. And we've brought you along on this mission of all things. I'm sure you don't feel a shred of remorse."

"OZ!" Oscar started to push back at him. "Stop stirring up strife! This is not helping anything!"

Ozpin ignored him. "Am I the delusional one here, Miss Likstar?" he said very meanly.

Shine was speechless--perhaps because if she brushed this off it would have sounded insensitive.

And yet somehow she'd never thought of this while talking to Salem. Just as she'd never really thought about all the things Salem had done to them as really Salem doing them. Maybe that was crazy, but Shine couldn't unite her impression of the woman in her mind with the person who did those things. They seemed entirely different.

Not that Salem was at all an endearing person to talk to, but there was nothing of that kind of psychoticness about her that Tyrian made so unbearable. None of that wish to look away because it was so grotesque.

But Shine couldn't just say that to the people Salem had been trying to kill for all this time. [Though technically she is one of those people.]

Raven gave Cinder a look of anger.

"I forgot about that," Pyrrha said uneasily.

"Why didn't you bring it up ever?" Yang asked Raven.

Raven looked at her oddly. Then she said strangely, "I suppose I was blaming myself for it. I suppose I considered what they did retaliation for my actions. And we were focused on finishing this war. It wasn't the time to worry about personal grudges."

This level of awareness from Raven, while not entirely without precedent from her past actions, surprised her family--and some other people.

Cinder pursed her lips.

The teens were glaring at her.

"Do you expect me to apologize?" she said savagely.

"No," Ren frowned.

Emerald glanced at her. "But you're a little sorry at least, right?" she said in her odd mix of uncertain and certain tone. "I mean, considering that you realize that Salem was totally lying to you about the real goal she had the whole time, it was pointless to do it."

"You know Raven tried to kill me," Cinder said, "and you never hear me bring that up."

"Yes, we do," Vara said, with a wince.

"They were killers anyway," Cinder said. "What did we do to them that they didn't do to hundreds of other people? If you think about it, we saved lives by wiping them out."

Qrow began to say something, and then he paused.

"Like that's not something you've thought before," Raven said bitterly.

"Well, I wouldn't have killed them for it," Qrow said.

"Only if it was over taking the Spring Maiden," Raven reminded him.

There was a dreadful pause.

"Ouch..." Nora muttered under her breath.

"All in all, we've all done horrible things as part of this war, or tried to," Raven said with difficulty. "The tribe would have done that and more in their place. I'm not saying that means I've forgiven it. But it's war, and the time for taking it personally has passed. After all..." She glanced at the skyline. "...how many places did I leave burnt and ruined just to steal food and valuables...? Something less important than the Relics and Maidens, in the long run. Am I more justified than them? It's just when it's you you want revenge, but it doesn't give me the high ground."

"It takes a large amount of honesty to admit that." Hazel was impressed for once.

"Well, that's my new thing." Raven tried not to sound as if she was going to cry. "Honesty."

Cinder gaped at her.

"You should try it some time," Theo said to her, just to piss her off.

Cinder scowled at him. "Oh, what do you want from me? Words change nothing. I felt nothing doing it. Am I supposed to lie?"

"No," Shine finally spoke. "No, Cinder, you're not supposed to lie."

There was a pause while the others weren't sure what to say.

"Raven is right," Shine finally went on. "There is guilt on all sides. Both sides have hurt each other for both good and bad reasons. And where will it ever end? I know it's only the latest on the list of atrocities done because of Salem, or even Ozpin, as we were just hearing. I can't make that okay. I can only provide you with the only thing that's ever made any difference: You can't change what happened in the past--just now, the present. What you did and who you were before, they were evil enough, both sides. And it has been all the way up to this point. Endless death, endless suffering, lying, betraying, on both sides. But the people standing here are the ones who decided to do something about it."

They all glanced at each other.

"You all have the chance now, of all times in history, to decide to do different than before," Shine said. "So while it may seem callous to the lives of those people, we can't bring them back with more war. We'll just make more people pay the price. Whatever Cinder did, certainly she could not have disobeyed Salem without being killed for it. Whatever Raven did, I don't care, personally. She's here now. That's all I care about... and as much as you will probably hate me for saying this--" She sounded a bit emotionally, as she was all wound up from the conversation. "--whatever Salem did or didn't do, I don't care. I don't quite understand it myself. I just have never been able to feel as strongly about it as all of you. Perhaps there's something off in my brain, or perhaps it's that it's not helpful to feel that way. In this long, drawn out war game, all I can feel is that it has to end. Judgment and blame will fall on us all when we die... Perhaps sparing each other it for now is the best thing we can do."

"Can I ask something?" Qrow spoke. "How can you look at a monster like Salem and honestly feel nothing? I don't... even mean really that you'd be as mad as us--I could see that, since most of it wasn't to you. But doesn't it... disgust you? You're always on about what's right, and she couldn't be more wrong."

"I think we spoke of this before, didn't we?" Shine tilted her head.

Qrow remembered.

 "I've seen monsters before, Qrow. I know of one who cannot be reasoned with. There is no truth in him. That is my enemy. But Salem, I've seen her. She's undoubtedly corrupt, and she's smart, especially because she is so old. But I saw humanity in her still--not much of it, I suppose, but enough of it to show she is not entirely irrational. I know what pure evil looks like. It takes and takes, and it gives nothing back. She's not far from that, I admit. But once she wasn't. All devils were once angels... but only humans can go between both and change our course. Humanity was her heritage, if it's not her current state. To be human is to have a great privilege and a great weakness. You decide which it is... or we'd all be doomed anyway... Think about it. If the options you've tried so far that sound sane have not worked, could it be that the real answer all along might sound crazy to you? " [Quotes from chapter 65: Words Are Knives] 

"You always did think of her differently." Winter had been there for that conversation also. "I thought it was strange then. I still do. But if you truly think you can change her mind, is using Ozpin the best way to do it?"

"She won't have any other way. That question doesn't matter," Shine said. "We must do what we must. The sooner you realize that in life, the better. Ozpin, we need you to do this."

"And if I won't?" Ozpin asked.

Shine gave him a long look.

"You will," she said. "You came with us for a reason... Oscar would have anyway, but you didn't bury yourself in his mind again and be silent. You want to stop this? This is your only chance anyway. You won't get another. You can have a bit to think about it, but you'll find, I think, that there's no other option for you."

"That is harsh," Sun said.

"Is it?" Shine said. "Is it so very harsh, all things considered? I'm not asking him to sacrifice his soul."

That burn stung.

"She's right," Hazel said. "He's asked far worse of people than just talking to someone, and if he was worth anything as a leader, he would do it and quit complaining about it." With another angry look at him.

"If he does agree, I was hoping you'd go along as a guard," Shine said. "Someone else should too, but we know you can hold your own if things get messy."

"At least I wouldn't be biased in his favor," Hazel agreed, reluctantly enough. "Salem does not frighten me either, more than reason."

"Oh, great," Raven muttered.

* * *

While Ozpin was left to think over it, Salem impatiently waited for some word.

She also argued with herself as to whether she should even believe that Ozma would do it. Likely he'd turn them all against her instead.

Though she had a hard time picturing Shine being so easily swayed. Still, if all the others listened to Ozma...

On the other hand, if he did show up, did that just mean the group out there was not really following his orders? Something had managed to inspire more than him? Unthinkable.

It was always either her or Ozpin... She never thought any third party would be a contender.

She paced around.

Tyrian still had not reappeared, and she didn't care in the least if he did now that he was useless to her. She hardly even noticed it.

Finally, Salem went to the room that was her private quarters, though it wasn't really a bedroom, as she didn't really sleep.

Since becoming immortal, her body grew tired at times, but never overwhelmingly so, and very little rest was required to remedy the problem.

It must have been centuries since she'd even thought of being tired.

Perhaps it was because talking to Shine was taxing in its own way--it had forced her to use more mental energy than she had in ages, trying to keep up with anyone in conversations. Usually she just gave orders.

Very infuriating.

But Salem had come in here for another reason.

She shut the door tightly, as if worried that Tyrian would come in, though he'd never have dared to come into this room.

Even other Grimm weren't in there, but she still felt strange about it.

There was a kind of mirror in here, made of reflective stone and glass formed from lightning.

Salem surveyed herself in the mirror, not caring about her usual appearance at all. But she finally pulled back her dress.

It was made out of a goo, like the other Grimm that allowed her to hover over the ground, so she didn't need to tear it to do this, just to move it.

[Like the symbiote from Spiderman 3.]

She almost hesitated to do this still, but she revealed the area in her torso that Shine had run her through in weeks ago.

Since Salem never needed to do things like bathe or eat, and only changed clothes for fun, she had never glanced at the spot in all this time and hadn't thought to.

After all, her injuries healed immediately.

But to her great shock, she found that it didn't look the same as usual.

One wouldn't really call it a cut--it wasn't open, and she had no blood even if it was. But there was a burn mark there.

Salem stared at it like she thought it would go away if she looked long enough. Then she felt it, and it felt hard, like a scar.

She examined around it and found there seemed to be no damage under it. It was just a mark, more like a tattoo or birthmark than like a real scar. Certainly no real damage had been done except at the time she recalled that it hurt like fire.

But...

Still, nothing had ever left a mark on her except the Grimm pond, not in thousands of years.

Salem looked at her own eyes and saw fear in them.

Then suddenly she shrieked and smashed the mirror into hundreds of pieces and stepped back from it, falling onto the floor.

She couldn't faint or get dizzy, or she might have, reeling from the shock the way she was.

But as she couldn't, it was her mind that was racing and tumbling around.

Only two very clear thoughts emerged from this:

One: Something actually hurt me.

Two: This was not magic or ordinary metal.