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Well, in any case, it was a relief to see the Candle actually up and running. Given everything that had happened, he would've been disappointed but not surprised if half or more of those memories had turned out to be part of some crazy fever dream.

But hmm.

Abbas was just standing there as he worked. The glass orb was lighting up nicely, sure, and he could see materials hovering into the center and swirling around, but the Candle was capable of so much more.

Hector tapped the Lord Saqqaf on the shoulder. "Can you summon the roots up from underground?"

The glow faded away as Abbas turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"

Crap. How to explain? He couldn't exactly show the man what he was talking about. He pointed at the stony base on which the giant orb rested. "The roots of the tree can be summoned out from there and manipulated directly. Kinda like surgical tools, I guess. You can do very intricate work with them."

Abbas eyed the Candle anew, looking it up and down.

Hector still had a lot more to say. "Also, if you move around the big globe while you're working, you might be able to improve the quality of your products, too. I saw Agrian circling around it--and even climbing up all over like a spider monkey, sometimes. Whenever he did that, it seemed like he was able to achieve a much brighter 'flame' inside. Or 'glow.' Oh, and that's another thing. Can you create sparks and fire within the orb?"

Abbas blinked a couple times, scratching his cheek. "Ah, n-no. Wait a moment. You're saying I should climb onto the orb itself?"

"Yeah."

"But. Would that not be too dangerous? For the Candle, I mean? I do not wish to damage the glass."