Little troubled Gandalf in his long life. He could count on one hand the times when he had been stressed or troubled, and most of them involved Bilbo Baggins. It took a lot to stress Gandalf out, and it took even more for him to seek advice about said trouble. Radagast was quite supportive of his troubles, as a husband should, but Gandalf found that this trouble was not one to bring up to his husband. He was going to have to go talk to a very old friend, one who often helped him in times of need.

Gandalf gave a small time as he finally admitted it; he was in a time of need. He had never thought to put in a security device in the café. The students on campus usually respected the coffee shop, and Gandalf had trusted that they would not vandalize it. He had been unfortunate enough, however, to become victim to the students from Mordor College. He had known that there would be trouble from them; he just didn't know that it would be so much.

He ranked his hand through his hair as he stared down at the paper quoting how much it would be to repair the café. The windows were in the thousands of dollars; the books were irreplaceable, and the paint for the walls was going to be pricy. He supposed that he was lucky that only his Halloween mugs had been destroyed, and that the vandals had left his machines alone, because Gandalf would have definitely not been able to afford it.

He could pay to fix the windows, even without the insurance that he was sure he would not be offered. The only problem was, most of the money he was going to use had been set aside for Radagast and him to travel the rainforests in South America (Radagast had a thing for forests). They had been planning this trip for a very long time, and Gandalf did not want to disappoint Radagast despite the fact that he knew Radagast wouldn't think twice about diverting the funds for the trip to the café.

The knock on his door was subtle, but Gandalf heard it nonetheless. He may have been old, but his ears were certainly not fading yet. He stood from his kitchen table and went to the door to reveal his old friend. The man was holding a white umbrella over his head as the rain steadily fell down behind him. "Good evening, Gandalf."

"Good evening, Saruman, please come in," Gandalf responded, "Can I interest you in a cup of coffee?"

"No thank you," Saruman told him, putting down his umbrella and taking off his coat. Saruman had aged since Gandalf had last seen him; the black in his beard shrunk, the white slowly creeping into it. "I hear you are having some trouble."

"Yes, which is why I called you here," Gandalf admitted as Saruman walked into the kitchen. The older man raised an eyebrow at the papers on kitchen table, before he walked over and began to inspect them.

"These are quotes? Those windows are very expensive," Saruman muttered as he moved the papers around, "I assume you wish to talk of these?"

"Indeed," Gandalf said, "Have a seat."

"What is troubling you, my old friend?" Saruman asked, as he pulled out a chair and sat down. He slipped on his pair of reading glasses in order to see the paper more clearly. His mouth was set into a thin line before he said, "How about that coffee?"

Gandalf stood and poured the coffee he had made prior. He kept the coffee black, just as Saruman had liked it, and brought it back to see his friend leaning his head on his hand. Gandalf took this as a bad sign; for every time Saruman had done that in the years Gandalf had known him, the result had never been good.

"This is quite expensive, Gandalf," Saruman commented after he thanked Gandalf for the coffee. The man took a long drink of it before he turned back to the papers, "Do you have the funds to complete this?"

"I do… it is just that they are currently being saved for something else," Gandalf said softly.

"Oh yes, your vacation with Radagast," Saruman nodded, before he continued, "Are you getting any insurance money for this?"

"No. I did not have a security alarm set in place, they will not take my claim," Gandalf replied. Saruman set down the papers, and his coffee cup and stared at Gandalf with shock on his face. He even pulled off his glasses.

"You did not have a security alarm?" Saruman demanded, his voice raising slightly, "Are you truly insane?"

"I trusted that the students would not do any harm," Gandalf said softly.

"You trust too easily, Gandalf," Saruman said with scorn in his voice. "Your store serves coffee to young adults; they are untrustworthy, immature, and incompetent in thinking about what's right and what is wrong! They do not care for the consequences of their actions; they all live in the moment. You of all people should know that, you spend most of your time with them!"

"Not all students are as so, Saruman, most are respectful and kind," Gandalf told him.

"Maybe some are, Gandalf, but the ones who ruined your café are certainly not," Saruman retorted. "You need to find the people responsible and have them compensate for the damage. But, that will be very difficult due to the fact that you did not have an alarm, or any cameras set up to catch them. Either you find the vandals, or you use the money saved for your trip. If you don't, perhaps you would need to sell your café and have somebody with more money take over and repair it."

Gandalf did not reply. He had to admit that he had been thinking about selling the café. He did not want to; the café was something that kept him amused and busy in his retirement. The community the shop had built was wonderful, and his employees were very dedicated to the store. Perhaps if he didn't pay them for their lost hours… No. Those employees needed the money a lot more than Gandalf did, and he would not take away their only income.

"I do not wish to sell the café, Saruman, and even if I did, I doubt that anybody would wish to buy a building in disrepair," Gandalf said to him, "I would have troubles finding a buyer."

"Not exactly, Gandalf," Saruman responded, slipping his glasses back onto his face. "There is a man interested in buying it. A very old colleague of mine. I can give you his number, if you wish to keep that option open."

Saruman slid the card over to Gandalf, who took it and put it in his pocket without looking at it. Gandalf gave Saruman a small nod of thanks. Saruman flipped through the pictures of the vandalism without another comment, stopping on the 'STAFF ONLY' door's spray-paint penis. He wrinkled his nose in distaste, before he set down the pictures.

"I fear I must go, Gandalf," Saruman said, gathering up his coat and umbrella. "I wish I can more counsel to give you, but I have to admit I am quite stumped. Do consider all of the options, dear friend."

"Good night, Saruman," Gandalf bade him, and Saruman gave him a small nod before he walked down the front steps and back into the rain. Gandalf sighed as he closed the door, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the card and finally looking at it.

MOUNT DOOM INDUSTRIES
PRESIDENT SAURON MORGOTH
PHONE: 666-000-9966
FAX: 666-001-9969

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