Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 2]

I had to find the right word. Find the phrasing – and that was the hard part. Runesight gave me a basic understanding of a concept. I could look at a Rune of Dexterity and see the words `Dexterity` and `Bolster`. That meant the single Rune was two words – or maybe even three. Maybe it read, "Bolster my Dexterity".

That was where the problem came in. Oobleck and my works had been focused on cause and effect. X Rune did this, so that meant it translated as Y. If Rune causes fire, Rune must mean fire.

But it didn't necessarily.

It could mean "strike with fire", "imbue with fire" or even just "causes sparks" and the fire was more a consequence of those sparks igniting with the air. One part of that Rune contained the meaning for the word `fire` while the rest was the… I supposed the best way to put it was the `controlling aspect` or maybe even the `condition` for use. The grammatical phrasing which gave it the power to do stuff and that didn't just leave your sword literally becoming fire in your hands.

—Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 2]