Once there was a sword that talked too much.

No-one was sure why or how it talked, but one thing was agreed upon; the sword was very annoying.

After some time even the most seasoned warrior gave up, and the elders decided to hide it away in a tall tower.

“Ohh, this place looks nice. Is this where your mistress lives? Oops, shouldn’t have said that! It’s very tall, isn’t it? Careful on the steps, old man, I don’t want you to break a hip! Wait, where are you going?”

The sword shouted as the elder locked the door and left, but no-one came to rescue him.

Until a young trainee was walking along the waters edge years later and heard shouts.

“Help me! Helloooo! I’m trapped in here!”

The trainee didn’t think about why the place was so locked up, or why the person shouting seemed so strange. She dove into the filthy waters, broke down the door, climbed the rotten steps, and stopped dead.

The sword looked perfectly ordinary, save for a green eye at the top, that watched her walk into the dusty room.

The trainee was looking all around for a person to save when she heard a voice.

“Am - am I dreaming? A person! At last! You’re not really a rat, are you? They get pretty big around here!”

The trainee slowly turned and looked hard at the babbling sword.

“Not saying that you are rat-ish in any shape or form, though your eyes are a bit close together, but it suits you! What’s your name? I’m shutup, or sometimes idiot! I much prefer the name kay, if you don’t mind. Because I’m a katana, a magic one too, extra sharp even though I’ve been here for 4000 suns!”

The sword, kay, continued as the girl stared.

“Why aren’t you talking?” It asked.

The trainee shook her head and made a motion with her hands.

“Oh, you can’t speak? That sounds awful!”

The girl shrugged and drew something in the dust with her finger.

“Leigh? Is that your name? Sounds like kay!” The sword suddenly faltered. “You aren’t going to leave me, are you? I know it’s a lot to ask, but could I join you? At the very least, could you take me outside?”

The girl gently picked up kay and examined him. He was still in a grey holster, though the straps had been nibbled away.

“I look good, don’t I?” The sword said.

The girl half smiled and managed to attach kay to her back.

“Oh! You mean it?! You won’t regret this!” The sword shouted in delight, peeking over her shoulder. “I even have a song for this very occasion!”

The trainee stumbled a bit as the sword began to sing off-tune.

She jostled kay a bit.

“Oh, sorry! I haven’t done my warm-ups yet, Ahem!” The sword began to warm up its voice and the rodents ran out of dark corners to get away.

To Leigh, the sword wasn’t too bad to listen too, if a bit pitchy. She nodded along as they left the tower together.