Valid Proof

When the tram stopped by the University Station, Narheda fostered a slight fear that she and Luwan would be met by a repetition of yesterday's disaster at their own campus. But she forced those worries to the back of her mind as they started off for their objective.

Unlike the Sarmaltar uni's hilly location, the Tharbad equivalent was situated on the riverbanks of Gauathlon, or to be more exact on and around an islet protruding out into the river just south-west of the Northern Old Town. Following professor Iusa Vinidad's directions they found themselves walking down meandering paths of white pebbles and passing by a motley blend of old and new buildings located helter-skelter on the shore side, mingling with impressive old oaks, lark trees and other greenery. There were some open spaces where Narheda could spot students mingling about, but for the most part this place was far much densely arranged than the Sarmaltar university campus.

They passed by a large open air arena with white marble pillars carrying decorative architraves but the 'roof' being nothing more than a few ivy covered iron bars making out a cupola. Soon after that they found themselves facing a large red brick building with a toppy, solar-panel covered roof and high, pointy windows running floor to ceiling and with wrought iron railings. Just like almost every other building on the campus this one was ivy covered. This was the Institution of Biology, where they were to find their hostess.

The large entrance hall lacked reception, and Narheda and Luwan stopped hesitantly and gazed around for a while, before the latter frankly went up to one of the few students hanging around and asked where they could find Professor Iusa Vinidad.
"Up there, second floor, I believe. That's where she has her office. Or third, no more like second it is, of that I'm almost certain," the blonde, young man said in a singsong Rohan accent. "But forget about the lift, the darn thing has been out of service since the proverbial demise of Sauron," he grinned.
"Thanks," Luwan said and turned toward the broad staircase at the other end of the hall.

"Hey," the Rohanite halted them. "She won't accept you as doctorates, take my word for it. There's people asking about it like every day, she's quite a sour faced old lady about it. And especially if you're from out of town you know."
"Thanks, but we're here on another business," Narheda cut the talkative youth off and they started up the majestic granite stairs, worn concave by countless feet. As they ascended she couldn't help admiring the railings made by the in Tharbad so ever-present elaborated iron works, here mimicking spiraling, long-steamed greenery with gracious flowers.

Narheda and Luwan found the professor's demure on the third floor. It was a large corner office, thus it was located at the far side of the building. The door was slightly ajar and it was death silent from the inside, a silence which made Narheda quite worried, taken in mind the latest events. But no, the professor was alive and well. At the gentle tap on the door frame her soft voice was calling out for them to enter.

Their hostess was sitting by a worn, old desk with her nose buried in a large tome, however she looked up as they entered, indicating two chairs, telling them to bring those over to the desk. She then offered heated blackcurrant lemonade from a carafe, but both Narheda and Luwan declined politely.
"I've been thinking over what the two of you said yesterday," she commenced. "Now, I cannot care less about the orcs, they are cruel, ugly and smelly. But I do care about the Elves. And most of all I care about the truth. I honestly believe that no one should interfere with science, no matter what the motif is. And if it's just about plain greed, then I want to see these people hitting the brick wall. I'll give you what you need to publish the things I believe Dr. Arlig intended to publish. It will be enough to prove that there really was an Elven race once. And – mind you – what became of them."

At the last sentence, Narheda felt her eyes widen and a strange shiver run from her neck and down the spine.
"What – did become of them?"
"They became extinct as a unique specie," Iusa stated frankly.
"We killed the elves, you mean?" Luwan asked.
"Not in the meaning of performing genocide," Iusa said. "But as the human race expanded we brought with us our viruses and deceases and for them the elves had no protection. They lacked our extensive immune defense. A mere cold could kill an Elf. Then we human simply assimilated the remaining Elves. Their genes are part of our gene pool these days, and that's one of the reasons it's so darn hard to prove that they were not humans. Too many similarities between their and our specie."

"But," Narheda began. "I'm not a biologist, but I know that the general assumption is that the elves and the humans were unable to procreate. So there could be no mixing of our races."
"That assumption is clearly wrong," Iusa said. "It was hard, but it was not impossible for an Elf and a human to procreate, and the pairings weren't common either. So the hybrids were few and far between. On the other hand they had enough of humanity within them to easily beget children with other humans. So while the Elvenkind dwindled away to nothing, their genetic heritage lived on within our own gene pool. So in a way they are still around."

"How do you know all this?" Luwan asked.
"You see this book?" Iusa indicated the heavy volume. "It's mostly considered a collection of fairytales, mind you; it's even called 'Tales of Middle Earth'. But with my own research in mind, I can tell that most of what's in here has a background of truth, even if the very characters and events told about might be fictitious."

"What do you then think about the other legendary races?" Luwan asked. "The Dwarves and the..."
"Too early to say," the professor answered. "But I assume there might be some truth to these stories as well. And perhaps we might one day even find an Istari."
"A what?" Narheda and Luwan choired, both of them watching as Iusa's face turned mysterious.
"A Lord of Wisdom. That's the believed title of a rare specimen of near immortal humanoids which were believed to have appeared on Middle Earth in the beginning of the Common Era."

"Immortal?" Narheda swallowed. "I can accept the existence of Elves and Dwarves, perhaps even Hobbits and Satyrs. But immortal, no, that simply cannot be possible."
"I assume they are not really immortal," Iusa agreed. "But bestowed with an impressive longevity. The stories describes them as 'Old Women and Men' and mention an impressive and waste knowledge of the kind it takes more than a lifetime to acquire. There's the story of Sokora for instance, a woman who knew all there was about medicine, including how to perform advanced surgery. But I digress. We better get down to business, because I have a meeting within half an hour, which I just have to attend to."

The professor's eyes dipped and she reached down and pulled open a drawer in her desk with a muted, scraping sound. She then produced a thick envelope and put it on the desk, before sliding it over towards Narheda and Luwan.
"Everything you need to know about the elves is in there, including several 3D manipulations of their presumed looks based upon the DNA found in the bones I acquired from Dr. Derlor. This Elven male was a rather handsome man, if I might say so myself. And finally, there's an address to a man I suggest you should look up as soon as possible after your return to Sarmaltar. He might offer you more help, including protection."

Narheda reached out for the envelope, only to hesitate with her hand hovering over the gray covering.
"But the ones who bribed you?" she asked hesitantly. "What do you think will happen when they find out that you have double crossed them?"
"Oh, they don't really dare to touch me, even if they should learn that I chose to not honor my part of the agreement," the professor smirked. Then her head nodded to the office wall on her left. There, between the two large windows, was a huge photo of her shaking her hand with a potbellied elderly man with gentle features, wearing an ornate dress uniform. A man, who Narheda recognized as Tanesis CXIV, the King of Cardolan. "It always pays to have friends in high places," she assured.

*o*o*o*

Narheda didn't dare to open the envelope until the morning of the next day when she was safely back within her own office at the Institution of History and Archeology of the University of Sarmaltar. She had told Luwan to come over after lunch, first she wanted a moment in private for having a look at these things. It was after all her future in the scales. The Harnendorite could always find a new biologist to work for and he had his grant to live off. And when that was emptied, he had the choice either to stay in Gondor or return to Harnendor. But this was what she, Narheda, had to save her professional life with. A heap of papers with a content certain people were ready to kill for and some other information which the Cardolanian professor had included as a bonus. Including the address of someone named Keratorion and who lived in Ligo. The mysterious 'helper', Narheda wondered how much truth there could be to that.

She started reading from the very beginning; going over sheet after sheet of paper, not noting that time flew, so interesting was this. Not until there was a tap on her doorframe and Hikarete pushed her dark head through the door frame.
"Hi there, finally back to normal programming, I can tell," she smiled and Narheda smiled back. It sure felt good to see a familiar face again, a face not that connected to the last few days of insanity.

"Sort of," she replied. "I'm planning my return to the excavation in Rendell. What I fear is going to be my last trip up there," she then added. The last thing was a lie; she didn't want too many people to know what she was up to, since she feared that the institution walls had ears. As a matter of fact she wanted to wait with Rendell until she had laid out her proofs to the public.

"Well, Mokena and I are going for lunch," Hikarete then said. "And I wonder if you would like to join."
"Why, yes, certainly," Narheda beamed up. She sure could need a break and a normality check. And what would be a better way to get that than to hang with her friends, getting to hear things like who Mokena was dating this week? "Just let me finish a few things here."
"Of course," Hikarete smiled, and then she glanced at her neckwatch. "I have a few calls to make, but meet us down in the foyer, uh, let's say a quarter from now. Then we can still beat the worst rush."

*o*o*o*

About an hour later, Narheda returned to her office – to find an odd change in the air. It soon became clear that someone had searched through her room. OK, they hadn't turned the place upside-down like in a bad broadcastplay, but someone had definitely been around. First of all there was this notable tang of male perfume pervading the air. Then she began to notice small items not being in their right place and there were obvious signs that someone had picked the lock to her safety box, however the trifling amount of money she kept there was left untouched. No normal thieves evidently.

Naturally she soon understood what it was they had been looking for and she smiled at the thought of having fooled them – for the time being at least, since she had brought professor Iusa's papers with her. She had won this round – but something told her that she would not keep winning forever. At that moment Narheda realized that perhaps it was a good idea to get in touch with this Keratorion of Ligo.