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Archivist van der Dawes,

Thank you for your interest, and the letter you sent. Your inquiries are extensive, and I\\u2019ve always thought of that as a good thing. Find enclosed the requested index of names of the principal figures of The Illustrated Concordance of Marielda. Please know that this isn\\u2019t an index for the book itself, as writing one of those would effectively only be a reproduction of the Concordance itself. Also find inside a copy of the figures missing from the earlier edition that you are working from.

As to your final question: \\u201dWhat ever happened to the Blade in the Dark?\\u201d Well, Devar, you need to understand that however powerful the Blade is, however dangerous, it is not special. It is not guided through time towards us. It is just one more brick in the tall wall of history. And eventually, bricks, they break, or they fall out of place, or they\\u2019re covered up by a new layer, or they are taken away by someone, placed in a garden, maybe, as trim.

What I mean to say is that the Blade vanished into time. I can track it but so far: Scavengers, traders, mercenaries. Survivors. A cult, briefly. Briefly. A hero who drew it only one time. A villain who never dared touch it. And then, ages ago, it vanished.

This is not something to correct or to concern yourself with. You do not ask about the petard that set Samot\\u2019s tower to fall, nor the gauntlet that Samantine left on the Eastland Shores. These, like the Blade, have served their purpose. To be an archivist is to keep everything in its place. But to be a historian is to swim, curious, in a sea of unfinished stories.

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Keep studying,

Semiotician-Emeritus Uklan Tel

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This week on Friends at the Table: A Shattering Note

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Man, don\\u2019t take this the wrong way, but why are you like this? You write about the foolish plans of jealous gods, about arrogant wizards, about people who were so dedicated that they rearranged history itself. I\\u2019m not saying that the Blade has some Chosen Path Through History, man. I\\u2019m just saying you put a weapon like that in a world with people in it\\u2014you know, our world\\u2014and it ain\\u2019t just gonna vanish one day. I read your concordance carefully, Tel, and I know one thing real well: That thing ain\\u2019t a brick in a wall, it\\u2019s a door no one\\u2019s opened in a while.

-D

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Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Episode description by Austin Walker

Music by\\xa0Jack de Quidt

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