#baronyofthesilverwolf

Art has been quiet for a time. “No.. I think that Gwen might be onto something. Perhaps Caelan couldn’t make a perfect heart because hearts aren’t perfect. They’re… fragile, and flawed.”

He looks down at the journal in his hands. “He put his heart into his work. But when Isolde tried to spur him to create this as a war machine? I don’t think his heart was into that… his mind was, it was enraged, and furious, but his heart was never about killing.”

“Maybe that’s why he couldn’t finish it.”

"You think she could do it too"

Art blinks, “Well of course. I never doubted that.” So matter of factly!

“Thistle puts her heart into everything she makes.”

“Remember the Selkies? I thought that challenge was trying to push her to create some sort of fighting battle bot at the end. But NO, she wows them with art from her heart.”

"We could... disassemble... scatter the pieces... I think we could do that, safely."

Gwen arches a brow.

Citrine gives a frantic chime at the word “disassemble”!

She does not like that! A tiny finger scolds, much like the namesake Never Lander.

"I don't think I like Lady Isolde very much."

“I pity her.” Art says softly.

"Me too, she has ruined her own joy "

"Caelan may have survived, if not for her."

"The kids would have."

"Yup." Grim

"Having this just... just sleep forever seems..."

"Seems?" coaxing

"A waste."

"mmm" A pause then "Can... you make a mold using the cavity?"

“We promised not to use it to fight. I wonder if there’s some other purpose it could be turned to?”

He’s giving Thistle a curious look. “Can golems… automatons… whatever this is. Do they THINK? Feel? Or just follow orders?”

"Far as I know, they just follow orders."

He looks down at the journal in his hands, and lightly flips through the pages, thoughtfully.

"Having it protect... that'd be fighting, too, wouldn't it?"

"It's built to be a guardian."

“Not everyone does what they were built to do. Sometimes people just need to follow their hearts.”

“But it doesn’t have one. That’s… sad.”

"I'm a Guardian but I also teach dogs"

“And I’m apparently supposed to rule, but I just want to read.” A silly grin.

Citrine gives a series of chimes, possibly something profound. Or possibly a complaint about being hungry. Who knows?

"What's most important is we make sure nobody is hurt."

“I hope that includes you, big guy.” Art says, patting the sentinel on an arm sympathetically.

“Well, we have Sir Caelan’s workshop and tools… want to see what we can do?”

"We should... there might be a glyph that could... "

"Like, to set the heart with programming, maybe, but..."

"But..."

“There were some books on a shelf I wanted to go through. One looked like ahistorical reference book…”

The troll ponders "in certain Native American cultures there was a belief about corn maidens giving life to others ,and stuff"

"Wish I studied more" A frown

"Nobody is gonna die!"

"That's why I'm thinking disassembly. Send the parts far apart."

"It's... I mean, yeah, it's a damn sin."

"I still think we should try the heart creation but you're the expert" She says

"Consider risk-reward, yeah?"

"I screw up, and we have this unkillable behemoth on a rampage."

“I don’t think it’s unkillable. I mean, we’re haven’t tried yet.” Helpful!

"Right." She plants her hands on her hips and glares/squints at the shoulder joins.

They are so meticulously carved and fitted, it looks like it could be one piece.

"I think if the guy was that good he'd find a way to keep it from being dissambled"