A/N: I apologize for not updating this frequently. It hits very close to home and is quite difficult for me to write at times. But it won't leave me be! It may take a while but it will all come out!
Elvensailor – thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the subtle hints and allusions to who Annatar truly is!
The leaves on the trees were turning into their glorious fall color. Annatar had been with us for two years but so much had happened in that time it seemed like ten years. As the days grew shorter, my melancholia returned. I missed my mother and Kendriun. Ghost was also beginning to show his age and I feared that soon I would also be without the old mouse-catcher.
I was sitting by the fire reading one evening when Annatar paid me his weekly visit.
"Come in, come in," I opened the door for him, trying to keep the chill night air from invading my warm and cozy room.
He shook off the cold and removed his cloak. I hung it on the hook on the back of the door with my cloak. He drew a chair up to the fire and I sat back down in my chair.
"The weather is turning frightful," he rubbed his hands together and held them to the fire.
"Yes, the older I get the harder the winters are to take," I agreed.
"What are you reading?" he changed the subject, noticing the scroll I had laid aside on the table when I answered the door.
"Oh, it is a scroll on divining possible futures," I answered.
He looked at the partially unrolled scroll. "It's in Quenya!" He said surprised.
"Yes," I admitted. "It was one that you gave to Kendriun. He has many ancient scrolls besides the ones you so generously gifted to him."
Annatar smiled. "Does he have any more scrolls such at this?" He asked.
"Divination scrolls?" I asked, glad to have my mind onto matters that I could speak of with little pain.
"No, anymore scrolls in Quenya, besides the ones I gave him," he clarified.
I thought for a moment. "Most certainly but I cannot tell you what they contain without hunting them up. My mind is no longer that sharp," I said. "Would you like to see them?" I asked.
Annatar fairly beamed. "Yes, that would be lovely!"
We made our way up to the room of books and the two of us searched for all the Quenya writings we could find. Annatar examined each scroll and book carefully as I tried to give the room some simulation of order.
"Mikal!" he exclaimed and pointed to a scroll he had unrolled on the table. "Do you know what you have here?" he asked excitedly.
I put down the books I was holding and walked over to him, glancing at the scroll. "Some sort of history, it looks like," I said slowly, translating the Quenya.
"Indeed it is a history! It is a history of the Elven Rings of Power," his eyes fairly glowed.
"Rings of Power?" I repeated. Something stirred in my memory but dissolved as I reached out for it.
"Yes," he explained. "See, it says here that the Elves created the rings of power to ward off the decay of time," he pointed to the passage and I leaned over to read it for myself.
"That is interesting," I mused. I could not place the scroll for I was sure had I read such a thing I would remember it. "How could they make such things?" I wondered.
Annatar quickly scrounged through his pockets and pulled out the dragon head ring I had seen so long ago. It was even more beautiful than before if such a thing were possible.
He held it out in his palm and read the description on the scroll out loud, "Mithril it is, two dragons heads coming together. A stone of unclouded ruby betwixt them." The description continued but there was no doubt that it was the same ring Annatar held in his palm.
We stared at each other.
"Where did you get this?" I asked him.
"I purchased it from a Numenorean sailor in Andunie," he said. "Many years ago. He said that the Eldar had made it but I didn't believe him. It seemed too incredible."
He placed the ring on the scroll and we both stared at it for a long time.
"Put it on," he encouraged me in a low voice.
I frowned. "Have you not worn it?" I asked him.
"Yes, but I saw nor felt anything. Maybe in the proper hands it could reveal a great deal," he said.
Cautiously, I picked up the ring and examined it closely. Annatar held his breath.
I slipped the ring on my finger and immediately felt a warm comforting glow come over me.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. My vision suddenly became clearer than it had since mother had died.
"What is it?" Annatar asked anxiously.
"It's strange. I feel a warmth and my inner vision is clearer than I remember it," I said in surprise.
"Then you must keep it," he announced.
"Oh, I could not," I said but I was not too adamant about it.
"No," he said. "I insist. You were meant to have this all along I think," he smiled.
"Thank you," I said and held my hand out to admire the beautiful gift he had given me.
Contrary to popular belief, one did not just slip on the ring and immediately become an Ulairi. Alas, had it been that easy! The process was much more drawn out and torturous than any could believe unless they lived through it. Kendriun was right in that experience is ultimately the only way to understand.