I'm trying various followers to see which one(s) are pushy (to get them fixed by JustinOther, the guy that made the Back_Off_Barbas! mod).

Anyway, we're walking around in Blackreach and I notice that Faendal now has glowing blue arrows equipped, that appear to be normal
Steel when I pick one up off a dead body. As far as I know, I haven't gotten any mods that add enchanted arrows. Is he using his Destruction/
Conjuration skills to beef up his already impressive 100 Archery skills? He does swap out the Daedric bow I gave him with the followers
not-seen-in-inventory Hunters Bow now and then, no big deal. He also occasionally uses a plain dagger and spellcasts with his off-hand,
rather than using a shield. I haven't figured out just what he's been casting, yet.

Could it be due to *my* using a dis-enchanted Drainheart Sword with the same translucent blue glow (re-enchanted with a Drain Health
instead of the normal Absorb Stamina)? I'm using it and a similarly spelled Drainblood Battleaxe for my 1- and 2-handed weapons
since they only weigh a few whatevers. I know using a Rusty weapon would improve my weapon skills better, but it was a compromise.

He is probably using poison. Why worry about weight?? between what your follower carries, echanted items, stamina improvments, armor skill perks, pickpocket perks, and the steed stone....... weight is really not a significant issue as long as you sell your spoils and drop off keeper items.

Faendal can use poison? Is he carrying any? So far as I've heard, or read, rather, only the Falmer use poision, but that may be suggested by the fact that they are often carrying it. The only "blue-glow" arrows I've seen are the bound arrows my mage uses with the Bound Bow. Poisoning them does not alter their appearance, either.

AHA! Thank you! Since he's a Conjurer he must have cast Bound Bow, and the arrows just don't go away. I wasn't even aware of that spell until you mentioned it.

Unlikely, the arrows and bow should disappear when the spell expires. And I think you would notice if he was casting a bound weapon spell.

Wait a minute... Faendal is not a conjurer. He's classed as a thief (like Aela) with primary skills in archery, light armor and sneak, and to a lesser extent one-handed and speech.

When Bound Bow expires, the bow disappears, but not the arrows that have been loosed. They remain in the targets or laying around.

Didn't the new patch fix arrow cleanup? Don't think bound arrows are supposed to stay around after use.

Dunno about what was fixed (or not), but even though Faendal is a sneaky archer and marksman trainer, he is also (at level 50) skill 99 Destruction and 72 Conjuration.

Oops, my bad! Hadn't read all of the things being added by the Specialized Followers mod http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7245
And THAT is where he got the spellcasting and magic arrows.