A/N:

ElvenPirate41: Thank you for your review. I wanted to send you a personal e-mail and explain the reason this was delayed but, alas, your email is not published (not that I fault you for that – neither is mine).

Darkaus: Thank you. I hope you received my note.

My beta and I were having a bit of a disagreement about the story. He wanted it to have more detail but I found that the more detail I gave, the more it creeped me out and I just couldn't write it anymore. But since you were both so kind to review one of my personal favorite stories (weird, eh? It really bothers me to write it and yet it's one of my favorites), I'll post what I have and try to finish it (I have the outline complete, I just haven't been able to get on with it!)

Spring came late that year, bringing torrential rains that flooded some homes near the coast. Kendriun and I did all in our power to stop the rains and keep the flooding to a minimum. After three days, the rain finally abated and the King issued forth to view the damage and re-assure the people that he had not forgotten them in their despair.

Annatar volunteered his retainers to help with the rebuilding efforts and extended generous loans to those who needed to re-build their homes. No effort was spared to bring the town back to prosperity and the flooding was quickly forgotten as mid-summer approached.

The wet weather, however, had brought the coughing illness on my mother. She had come down with this malady previously but this time it was much worse. I tried every herbal remedy I could think of but despite my best efforts to heal her she only became weaker. It still pains me to speak of this.

Was I not the most renowned herbalist for many a day's journey? Then why could I not heal her? In desperation, I turned to Kendriun for help. Certainly between the two of us we should be able to find some remedy to cure her.

The coughing sickness taxed her strength and made her dependent upon me to care for her and she forbade me to drag her pain out. She simply wanted to die painlessly in peace with me at her side. It shocked and frightened me to see such a vibrant woman struck so suddenly and violently with the coughing sickness. It was almost as if there were evil working against her.

From early in the mornings until late in the evenings, I combed through books, manuscripts and worked on potions for her but nothing seemed to work. Several times I woke up on the floor from where I had fallen from my chair in a sound sleep.

I was nearly beside myself with panic. Kendriun and I did everything in our collective power to ease her pain but her last few days were agonizing. I would have gladly traded her places but I could not.

She clung to life for one phase of the moon and then quietly succumbed to death early one morning as I slept by her side.

I was inconsolable for days. In my grief, I neglected my duties to Kendriun but the old man patiently understood my pain and let me be. Now he was the only person dear to me that I had left.

I was more determined than ever to learn all of the sorcerer's secrets. I felt a terrible guilt for my mother's death. If only I had been more skilled, if only I had been more perceptive and stronger. Never mind that not even Kendriun himself could cure her. My grief and guilt weighed heavily upon me and I never forgave myself for not being able to save her.

It was several months after my mother's passing that Annatar paid a visit to the tower to speak to Kendriun. I was surprised to find him there as he usually spent his time with the magistrates or other nobles and rarely bothered with Kendriun or me.

Of course, Annatar was one of the first to console me after mothers passing but his words were soon forgotten. It was all so many insincere platitudes that he regularly dispensed but I accepted his condolences politely. I did not trust him but it was no reason to be outright rude to him.

Finding him with Kendriun sent a chill up my spine. What is he doing here? I wondered, watching him warily. Did he feel safer now that my mother was gone? He must want something very badly to come here after all this time, I thought. Then I reconsidered. Maybe I was being a bit hasty.

"Ah, Mikal, join us!" Kendriun waved me over to where he and Annatar were sitting on a bench in the herbarium.

"Good afternoon, my lord Annatar," I said politely and bowed to Master Kendriun.

I placed my basket of fresh herbs on the table next to them and began to sort them out as the two of them talked.

"Mikal," Annatar said turning to look at me. "Master Kendriun and I were discussing the powers of the Eldar and their secrets. Why do they not share the secrets of their powers with us?" He asked me.

"I had not considered this question before," I admitted. "Certainly, I have spoken of some things with the Eldar in days past but I never ventured to ask their secrets."

"And had you asked, you would have been coldly rebuffed," Annatar warned. "They do not willingly share their secrets with men." My curiosity aroused, I fell to his bait. "Why not?" I asked.

"Ah, my good man, they are afraid that if men knew their secrets that we would become more powerful than they," he winked at me knowingly.

"Bah!" Dismissed Kendriun. "They have no need for the likes of us. Why would we teach a dog our secret arts when they would have no idea what they are learning? The Eldar feel the same way about us. We may learn but we wouldn't understand," he grunted.

Annatar considered this reasoning for a moment. "What if there were a way to understand their knowledge?" he asked.

"What do you mean? What sort of "way"?" Kendriun asked suspiciously.

"I mean, what if it were possible to see into the depths of their knowledge and gain their understanding of the world?" Annatar asked smoothly. "Say, if there were a mirror or a stone that would give one the power to reach into the very minds of the Valar and probe their knowledge and understanding. What would that be worth?" His raised his eyes to mine and I shivered. His eyes were as cold and flat as stone.

Kendriun was still dismissive. "If such a thing existed, it certainly would have been known long before now," he said. "I can't see the Eldar being so foolish to allow such a thing to be created without their knowledge."

I said nothing but kept my eyes on the two men, my herb sorting task forgotten. The tension in the room was as thick as the summer air outside.

"Perhaps," admitted Annatar. "I was only speculating. Such a thing would be a veritable treasure, yes?" He asked with a smile.

"Yes, it would be quite an interesting experiment," acknowledged Kendriun. "However, I don't believe I'm in a mind to bring down the wrath of the Valar upon us," he chuckled.

I sighed with relief. Kendriun did not become the most famous sorcerer in two kingdoms by being an idiot. I went back to my herb sorting task and the conversation turned to more mundane matters. I listened with only one ear as my mind was mulling over the previous conversation. Annatar was poking at something but I could not quite grasp it and it annoyed me.

Why did he concern himself with the Valar? He was no sorcerer – was he? The thought nagged at me for several days. Perhaps that is why neither mother nor I could see into his heart – he was a sorcerer more powerful than even Kendriun.

Was that even possible? I asked myself. No, it could not be possible. A sorcerer that powerful could not exist here, certainly. But I still could not shake my suspicions.