Shameful confusion about Fetish/Spirit Ally rules

Sigh.

I've read it and reread it, and I still can't quite tease the meaning out of it. There's no example of it anywhere in the rules book.

I'm trying to understand the "special release" of a fetish. HQ, page 137.

I get all the "use it as a charm" stuff. Use it as an auto augment, or as an active skill without releasing it. Fine, no problem.

BUT then the rules say ""A practice spirit can be released from its fetish to grant a greater bonus....The spirit's ability is then added either to the hero's advantage points _or_as a bonus to an ability."

It's the very last part of the phrase that gets me. Does a released Flaming Lance 10 spirit add TEN POINTS to the hero's lance skill? That's what it seems to say.Yow!

Now, I get that a fetish is temporarily "used up" by releasing it.

BUT a spirit ally is not. The rules say a spirit ally automatically returns after use.

So, it appears that someone with say, 9W2 Lance Combat and a spirit ally knowing Lance of Flame 12W gets to be Flaming Lance Combat 1W4 _all_the_time_.

Please tell me that isn't right. Or does anyone think that a Spirit Ally with a 12W in something is really excessive? Even if it was only a 5W Lance of Flame, that still pushes him up to 14W3 before any other augments.

And yes, I have a hero with a spirit ally in my game....

Mike Dawson