Upstairs at the Veyne house, Mira sat at her small desk in her room, surrounded by the usual clutter of enchantment materials. Tools, pieces of raw metal, wooden practice dolls, and diagrams she had sketched herself covered every available surface of her already small table. The window stood cracked open, letting in fresh air and a bit of morning light. The rest of the house had been quiet for some time.
She held a finished sword in her hands, turning it slowly. Then she set it down once and picked it back up again, testing the balance. For a long moment, she simply stared at it. Then, without any warning, she let out a loud scream.
"Kyaaaaaaa. I made it, I made it!"
It wasn't a scream of fear or pain. It was pure triumph, loud enough to bounce off the walls and carry straight down the stairwell. It was the sound of someone who had worked on something for a long time and had finally succeeded.
Downstairs, Elara came out of the kitchen right away, still holding a spatula. "What in the world is happening up there?" she called, while looking upstairs.
Mira appeared at the top of the stairs, leaning over the banister with a bright face. "I did it! Mom, I finally finished it!"
Elara stared up at her. "And finished what? You're always working on something new. I can't keep track anymore."
The noise had pulled everyone else from wherever they were. Mitsu stepped out from the back hallway, wiping soil from her hands after working in the garden. Helga came from the side room, drying a bowl with a cloth, to not let rust build up. Tresta stepped quietly out of her room and watched from near her doorway.
They all looked at Mira, waiting to hear what she had done.
Mira grinned widely. "Come to the backyard. Right now. I need to show you this."
----
Everyone followed her outside. The mid-morning light filled the small backyard. They gathered at a respectful distance, though none of them looked entirely sure what they were staying back from. Mira stood in the center of the open space, holding the sword.
The weapon itself looked familiar to anyone who had seen Lys's CorpseSlayer. The proportions, the weight distribution, and the overall build matched very closely. It was clearly made for a specific person rather than general use. For Mira.
She apparently had worked from that sword as her main reference on purpose. She knew it better than almost any other sword, and of course, also had wanted to hold the real one many times, but Lys had never let her.
So, what could she do other than build one herself? And as a matter of fact, that's what she did.
She made her own enchanted sword that resembled Lys's CorpsSlayer almost entirely.
Standing in the small open space beside the backyard garden, Mira held the sword loosely at first, rolling her wrist a few times to feel the balance. No one has asked questions yet. The silence felt expectant.
She stretched her arms over her head, rolled her shoulders, and did a quick side twist. A couple of the others exchanged glances, unsure if this was part of the demonstration or just Mira being Mira.
Then she started moving. At first, she went slowly, working through basic swing arcs to find the center of gravity. The sword followed her movements cleanly. Anyone familiar with enchanted weapons could tell that the binding she likely did on it was well done. A poorly enchanted sword would fight against the user, but this sword moved with her.
Then the glow started next. It wasn't the cool blue-purple of Lys's sword. This light was warm, yellow-gold. It began softly and grew stronger as Mira's movements built up speed. With it, her expression also changed from an excited grin to focused concentration. The craftsman side of her had taken over now.
She completed four swings, then five.
On the sixth, she brought the blade forward in one sharp, committed arc.
The slash of her swing released.
Just as she released it, a curved line of force tore through the air, visible and edged in gold. It passed cleanly through the small flowering trees at the back edge of the yard. The cuts looked smooth.
The trees stood for half a second longer, then the severed sections slid apart and fell to the ground.
Silence fell over the backyard.
Mira lowered the sword and turned around with a proud smile. "So? What do you think? It looks good, right?"
Elara opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She closed it again.
Helga stared at the fallen trees, then at Mira, then back at the trees.
Tresta stood very still, watching the sword on Mira's hand with an expression that looked more like recognition than surprise. It was the look of someone who had once fought for a living and knew a real weapon when she saw it.
Then Mitsu's voice cut through the quiet, pitched higher than usual. "Ahh…. My flower trees!" She rushed past the others toward the fallen trees, hands reaching out, her face full of distress. "Those were the ones I planted just a few days ago! I was going to sell them at the market. Mira, you cut them all down!"
Mira's proud expression faltered instantly. She looked at the trees, then at Mitsu, who was now kneeling in the grass trying to prop one severed section back onto its base as if it might magically reattach.
She set the sword down carefully and hurried over to help, her face showing that she just realized that success and trouble could come at the same time.
Mitsu cradled one of the severed branches in her arms, still trying to make it stand. Mira just knelt beside her, trying to help but only making the situation slightly worse as she accidentally knocked another piece over.
Seeing the awkward scene in front of her, Elara finally found her voice. She looked at Helga. And Helga also looked back at her. Neither of them spoke, but the shared look carried everything they had just seen, a weapon powerful enough to cut a person clean in half, now held by a teenage girl who was currently apologizing to a little gardener for cutting some mere flowers.