Your mother sounds like a smart woman.

[Magic swords activated through blood sacrifice? Sounds like a good time. Or perhaps it's his blood itself that holds such power. Something from his ancestry would be the obvious guess, but she knows well enough that such abilities can be obtained through more than just heritage.]

I'll show you to what these people call a 'speakeasy', then. Come have a drink. I might even be convinced to share a few tales of my own.