55. Hot

A bright flash of light close to Eöl's window jolted him from sleep, startling him for its proximity to his home. At first, he feared lightning had struck a tree in a typical summer thunderstorm, but there was no thunder following it, nor a drop of rain. Concerned, he leaped from bed, dressed, lit a lantern, and slipped out the front door of his dwelling to investigate.

The humid night was warm, and the air was completely still amongst Nan Elmoth's trees. Eöl thought to himself that it was perhaps only a flash of heat lightning as his search for he-knew-not-what seemed to prove fruitless. He made up his mind to go only as far as the next clearing before dismissing the event entirely.

Upon reaching the clearing, however, he was glad he had decided to come that far, for directly in the center of the break in trees was an enormous boulder that had never before been there. As best Eöl could tell by his lantern's slender beam and the light of the moon, the dead leaves and sparse grass surrounding it were burnt black. For a reason Eöl would never be able to remember, he tentatively stretched out a hand to touch it. He immediately withdrew it upon feeling the scorching heat of the boulder's surface. His hand was probably burned, but he was far too elated to mind the pain: He had felt iron!