When they woke, hours later, the weather was back to normal. It was late in the day and the sky was a mellow golden red color, yet its rays felt cold, and they could see in the distance the lake was shrouded in black mist. It looked as if light could not reach that place anymore, somehow beyond it. They gathered what they had lost in the blast, and looked for the horses. Unfortunately, the animals where nowhere to be seen. The wizards looked to the elves then, with weary eyes and apologetic faces. "It seems we have failed you," said Alatar softly, "soon now the seed meant for this place will wither." Pallando took of his hat and sat down cross-legged. He layed the staff across his lap, and closed his eyes. "With no horses to carry us," whispered Pallando, "the road will be longer still." Then he said no more for a long time. The elves joined Pallando, and soon all six of them sat in a circle, kneading their troubled thoughts, trying hard not to look at the misty lake.
Finally, Pallando opened his mouth to speak, but he was interruped by the distant cry of a bird. This was the first they had heard of animals in a long time. "Luinaew," whispered Síriel, and looked up in the sky. They all saw it then, a bluejay flying past them, straight as an arrow towards the east. "What does it mean?" Wondered Thárion aloud. "Should we face the corrupted spirit again?" Asked Amothor. "No," answered Ianthel harshly, "it will be the death of us." The wizards nodded, though it pained them to admit it was true. When the bird went past their sight they fell into silence once more. Then Pallando recalled his thoughts, "I was just about to speak of one who lives in the east," mumbled Pallando, "but now I am certain."
The younger wizard drew his breath sharply. "We must go and see Aiwendil the brown," he said, "he may yet be found in Mirkwood, and since he took it upon himself to protect the wilderness, which he clearly has not done, I believe it is time to pay him a visit. We need council from him, the last lord of beasts and trees." To the elves this sounded reasonable, but Alatar disagreed. "It is true we are clad in blue, Istari-dil," he began, "and the bluejay did fly to the east, where Mirkwood surely lies, far away. However, such an obvious sign may be the trick of our enemy, to draw us away from this place, or other places. Do not forget what happend on Almaren, long ago. The shadow is always behind you."
The wizards looked at eachother fiercely then. There was no love in their eyes, and the elves got a sense that something dark had happened between them in the past. "I see no other course of action," said Pallando sternly, straigthening up and towering over Alatar. "If this sign was indeed a trick of the enemy, then an even greater trick would be to put us against each other. Do not bring the past up so lightly, old friend." The fierce look in Alatar's eyes softened, and after a tense moment, he smiled. "You are right, of course," he said. "The eldest can be stubborn, and so the youth is needed. However, there is another we might seek as well, and the road is much shorter." Pallando raised an eyebrow, and the elves waited patiently for an explanation.
"Fornost Erain was rebuilt in the Fourth Age," Pallando agreed slowly, "and the lands past are most peaceful in memory. It may be the road south is safe, though the place did not earn its name 'Deadmen's Pike' lightly, for there is where the Witch-King of Angmar was felled, in the Third Age, and evil men once dwelled." Thráion and Amothor looked at each other then, confusion in their eyes. "I thought you said there was only us and Aiwendil left in this world," they said, "of whom do you speak that lives in the south?" The wizards did not answer immediately. "We did not utter lies," said Alatar softly, and shook his head, "for it is a spirit we speak of, not a man, nor a wizard." They pondered their choices for a while. In the end, the wizards could not decide whether to follow the bluejay, or take the much shorter road south.
A wind blew then, from the west. It was fresh and cool, with a hint of sea in the smell. "Two signs," said Pallando victoriously, holding fingers up. "Or mere happenstance," argued Alatar, taking them down. They began fighting with words again. The elves grew tired of their bickering, and realized the wizards would never agree on their own. "We will flip a coin," said Síril finally, "and through it, let the Valar decide. Heads, and we march east, towards the brown, as you say. Tails, and we go south, to this spirit of yours." She took out an old golden coin she had taken with her from the wizard's house, for when she saw it, she felt she would have need of it. The elves nodded and appraised the wisdom of their kindred sister. She let Ianthel flip the coin, and they watched in silence and expectance for the coin to land. It landed on its edge. "Ever the Valar speak in riddles," laughed Alatar, and they all laughed with him, and the mood between them improved greatly.
"But it is another sign," said Pallando, stroking his beard. "The Valar speak wisdom, if indeed it was they who spoke through the coin. We should split up then, three to the east, and three to the south." Alatar nodded. They parted in good mood, and agreed to meet again on Amon Sûl, Wheathertop, once their business was finished. Síriel and Thráion went with Alatar to the south, while Amothor and Ianthel went with Pallando to the east. They split the six seeds among them, though already one of them had darkened slightly in color, and they feared it would crack open like an eggshell, if they could not banish the Balrog's strengthened spirit from the Lake of Evendim soon.
Alatar and company went south then, staying clear of the dark and misty lake. When the elves first saw the harrowed remains of Annúminas, once mighty capital of the Kingdom of Arnor, the wizard decided to travel there first."King Elessar rebuilt this place in the Fourth Age," he said to the elves, while searching for something amongst the rubble and stones, "and he dwelt their often, and so too did his child Eldarion, for it was a fair capital after the rebuilding, shining with the splendour of the dwarf's craftsmanship." The elves listened to his stories, though often did the wizard stop and stroke his beard, apparently forgetting or misremembering much, as he corrected his words often. To them it was hard to believe the stories, or at least imagine them, for there was not much but a few broken walls and stone formations in the tall, stiff grass.
"What do you seek here, Alatar?" Asked Thráion of Alatar. The wizard sighed. "You, who is son of grass," he answered, "not unlike what is here, do you see anything peculiar?" The elf gave Alatar a strange look, then took off his green robe and let it fall into the grass. At once it disappeared before their eyes, as if it became grass itself. "Many things lie hidden in the fields of green," said the elf thoughtfully, "and easy it is to hide them." Síriel nodded, as if this made sense to her. "And the river carries away that which the grass does not shelter," she said, and the two elves smiled at each other warmly. Alatar raised an eyebrow and waved his hands disapprovingly.
"This is not the time for the games of elfs," he said sternly. "There should be a dungeon here, according to old lore, where the kings put away many treasures. I am looking for one object in particular, a seeing stone, a Palantír. We have recovered one, you may have seen it in our house before we left, but that one is useless. It is marred and showing only madness, like that of its old owner. However, the one I seek should still be of use to us. I fear now that we will need it, for there is much we have not seen from our home while we waited out the ages." The wizard sat down and leaned by a stone. "All this time we had," he whispered, "and yet we didn't prepare properly, for we felt too weary, and happily blamed old age." The elves eyed him with sympathy, and they helped him search for some opening the ground, hidden in the grass. When the sun gave away to the darkness, and the only light was that of the stars and the shining staff of Alatar, they gave up their search, and decided to continue southwards.