He nodded thoughtfully as she accepted his tentative offer, and he slanted a wry glance at her from the corner of his eyes. "You'll have to describe to me what you want, in detail. I might be able to forge one... but I can craft one with magic that should last you for a season while you find a longer-lived replacement." If she preferred a sword now rather than later, at least.
Her return question quirked a smile and he gave a slight shake of his head. "My world was far more... ah, diverse than this one. There were many races, some humanoid, or related to humans, but many not. My own, though, was race of fox people called kitsune... humanoid foxes. We walk upright and have fingers and thumbs, but otherwise, well. Furred, tailed, clawed, and with heads far more foxlike than human. We're all born that way." He paused, then shrugged. "But we're also all born with the magical talent to shift to a fully human disguise. Only some are born with the additional ability to shift fully into a fox form, though it ran in my own family." A trait he had spent most of his life hiding from all others, at his parents' request.
He listened to the description of Aisha's own people, nodding thoughtfully. "I haven't heard of such thing. On my world kitsune always bred kitsune. Tengu bred tengu. Catfolk bred catfolk." He hesitated, then gave a light shrug to indicate that it was neither here nor there. "May I ask what shift you held? Or... hold?" he asked tentatively.
Her return question quirked a smile and he gave a slight shake of his head. "My world was far more... ah, diverse than this one. There were many races, some humanoid, or related to humans, but many not. My own, though, was race of fox people called kitsune... humanoid foxes. We walk upright and have fingers and thumbs, but otherwise, well. Furred, tailed, clawed, and with heads far more foxlike than human. We're all born that way." He paused, then shrugged. "But we're also all born with the magical talent to shift to a fully human disguise. Only some are born with the additional ability to shift fully into a fox form, though it ran in my own family." A trait he had spent most of his life hiding from all others, at his parents' request.
He listened to the description of Aisha's own people, nodding thoughtfully. "I haven't heard of such thing. On my world kitsune always bred kitsune. Tengu bred tengu. Catfolk bred catfolk." He hesitated, then gave a light shrug to indicate that it was neither here nor there. "May I ask what shift you held? Or... hold?" he asked tentatively.
