Book One – Chapter 3

    Yes.
The roots themselves.
      They were
   materialised essence,
and so was the mountain blood of the Albweiss, on which they grew. That in itself had been an overwhelming revelation. There was a tree that held essence. And that tree’s root continued to hold it, even if cut and crafted into an artefact. So apparently, a stave possessed what Yves had understood as the sole foundation of sentient and sensible life.

He had not accepted any of it easily, neither the revelation nor what the Witch Mother intended him to do with it. It was an in sane id ea: to forge a bond with a tree, or with whatever came of it. Essence was supposed to be the exclusive determiner of higher life forms, like himself. Yes, Yves understood that plants grew and died, so he recognised the life in them. And yes, he even talked to objects. Sometimes. Occasionally. But that was not his wizardry, that was just his problems.
Be it roots or artefacts, he saw no consciousness in them. He could not bind such things to himself, because bindings, through wizardry, were agreements, and for an agreement, you needed an expression of will. No part of a tree, could offer that. No wizard was able to bind a stave.