A Heron-mark Sword

I love people's reactions in The Wheel of Time series when they learn about/see Rand al'Thor's heron-mark sword (given to him by his father), which "are traditionally presented to those who have earned the title of "Blademaster"". I liked it when Rand didn't know what the heron meant but everyone else did, and I like it now when he knows but can't live up to the mark - not yet anyway.

Excerpt from The Eye of the World, which made me stop reading the book to write this post:

It was his sword she [Elaida] touched, not him. Her hand closing around the hilt at the very top. Her fingers tightened and her eyes opened wide with surprise. "A shepherd from the Two Rivers," she said softly, a whisper meant to be heard by all, "with a heron-mark sword."

Those last few words acted on the chamber as if she had announced the Dark One. Leather and metal creaked behind Rand, boots scuffling on the marble tiles. From the corner of his eye he could see Tallanvor and another of the guardsmen backing away from him to gain room, hands on their swords, prepared to draw and, from their faces, prepared to die. In two quick strides Gareth Bryne was at the front of the dais, between Rand and the Queen. Even Gawyn put himself in front of Elayne, a worried look on his face and a hand on his dagger. Elayne herself looked at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. Morgase did not change expression, but her hands tightened on the gilded arms of her throne.

A Heron-mark sword: