"I... don't think that's the case, here?" Ilek says, uncertain. "I didn't go to the Academy in Sanctuary, so I didn't learn a lot of the... esoteric? Subjects Jaim did, but he's told me about the Planet Wards before. I don't think we know what they're holding back, but we know they're there - and that the stars and sun are part of them." 

The planet wards hold back the Void of Souls, Stormsinger adds to Ilek's explanation, Which exists between worlds. If one were to leave the Wards they would be reduced to mana - unrefined mana, known also as Soul or Void Mana. 

Huh.

She doesn't like that very much. Not that she's more trapped than she'd be, but it's different not being able to leave even in theory. She kind of wants to fight someone over it, and takes a moment to smooth down the impulse - there's no one to fight, and even if there was, it's most likely not worth it, this isn't that unacceptable.

The Blade says they're holding back the Void of Souls, whatever that is; you turn into mana if you try to go beyond them.

"Really? That's part of the Priesthood's scripture - they say that if you don't follow their tenets your soul dissolves into the Void on your death." 

That is... He finds it somewhat amusing. All persons return to the Void upon death. They do not dissolve into it - they merely rejoin it. There were tests, done long ago. I do not know the details of them - only that it was determined that this was the reason for duplicates such as my creator and this young one - and myself. We are all made out of the Mana which makes up ourself, in the Void. 

His amusement is contagious, and she grins. Nope. It's similar to my world - everyone there rejoins the Force when they die; everyone here rejoins the void. It's provable; people repeat because of it, here. You and the Blade are that.

"Huh." He has no idea how to feel about this. 

Well, he already knew the Priesthood was wrong. What's one more thing? 

"What is the Force?" He asks. 

The Force is the aliveness of the world, basically. All of physics and especially everything that's alive is part of the Force, and I can sense and manipulate it; that's where my powers come from. It's a very rare ability.

"Like... tapping into the Mind and Life of everything," he says, translating the idea into familiar terms. If someone were to attempt that using their magic they would burn themself out. 

There's more to it than that, but that's basically right. I have a little more of those than most people, too - Sith lifespans vary a lot more than regular human ones but I can expect to live at least three hundred years.

That's not too strange, to his mind. That's about how long most wielders of Greater Artefacts live, with up to 100 years more on top. 

"Will being bound to - the Blade? Lengthen your life more?" He never did get the Blade's title - though the lightning motif is suggestive. Blade of the Thunderbolt? 

I don't have mana to do that with. It might if I did; we don't know.

(She's forgotten his name; that's a longstanding annoyance. The robot will know, if she wants to ask later.)

Stormsinger, He reminds her, Or the Blade of the Storm, he adds. The latter is the one the young one is likely looking for, but I would not object if he knew me by the former. 

Thank you.

His name is Stormsinger, or Blade of the Storm, she adds.

Huh. That's - probably Fire and Water? Those are the two he uses the most, as well. How far does this go, exactly, he wonders. If they're... the same person, in different forms, he wonders how much Stormsinger, shares with him. What is their... essential self?

"Fire and Water?" He asks her, eyes alight with curiosity. 

She chuckles: "Mmhmm." You really are the same person. It's very obvious, to my senses. Do you want to talk to him?

He ducks his head a bit to hide a smile. 

"That - would be nice," he agrees. 

Love?

Of course, he sends, fond. 

And then-

They are your preferences as well?

"Yeah," Ilek agrees, "I know the others are useful - I have a few threads worth of everything - but-" 

You don't quite see the point in investing in the others. I would recommend you spend some time on Time spells - the last instance of us I knew found them very useful on the battlefield. And Life, as much as you can manage. 

Yeah, he remembers how useful that haste spell was. As for Life -

"I would have already, but the king prefers we leave anything more than the basic Life techniques to the healers." 

Ah, yes. If my suspicions are correct I have met one like this king before - souls tend to cluster. There is nothing stopping you from learning here, is there? 

"Cluster? Did our - other instance have my brothers, as well? And I suppose not," he says in answer to Stormsinger's question. Jaim would be only too happy to introduce him to some healers. 

Not the one I have met, through my wielder, he sends (along with fondess for their interpreter), A youger brother and sister. They may very well be the same ones - gender needn't be determined by the overself, though it can be.