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"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." Hector rapped a knuckle against the orb. "This thing is pretty durable. Actually, now that you mention it, I remember seeing Agrian punch the hell out of it a few times. I think that was more out of anger than, like, an advanced technique, though."

"I... see," said Abbas.

Hector walked around to the side of the Candle that was nearest the door. "One time, he actually hit it so hard that he cracked it. He was super pissed." Hector looked for where said crack would have been but as expected, he couldn't pinpoint the exact location. "Somewhere over here. It healed itself over time."

"Ah. That is good to know..."

"But yeah, I wouldn't recommend being too rough with it. The Candle stopped working for Agrian after a while, and, er... I suspect that his poor treatment of it was a contributing factor."

Abbas followed after him. "Do you know if there were other factors?"

Ah. Tough question. He had to stop and think about that one. "...I think so. It probably had something to do with how the Candle felt about him. As a person, I mean."

"But it allowed him to use it in the beginning, did it not?"

"Yeah. It changed its mind about him over time."

"I... did not think that a Forge could have such an advanced degree of sentience as that. You truly believe that it passed judgment on him? On a moral level?"

Man, there was a lot of context to explain. Hector didn't quite know where to begin. "Uh, kinda..."

Agh. Talking. His old nemesis.

Abbas waited a moment for him, perhaps expecting elaboration, but when Hector's struggling took too long, he spoke up again. "Well, we can discuss that later. There was something more pressing that I wished to ask you about."

"Hmm?"