"Glad homeagain," she said.
"Glad homeagain to you, too," Araevin replied. "I suppose I missed the place."
"It's been your home for a hundred years."
"As much as any place, I guess. But it won't be the same without Philaerin and the others."
Araevin turned to Maresa and Grayth, who both looked distinctly uncomfortable standing beneath the green boughs of the forest. Grayth had drawn the hood of his cloak up over his head as if that would hide his human build and heavy gait. Maresa seemed determined to hold herself absolutely still in order to appear graceful, but it simply gave her the appearance of being petrified with fear.
"Do not be afraid," Araevin said. "You are my guests, and you are welcome here. I only ask that you promise not to tell anyone of this tower, or what you see or hear while you stay here."
"Are you… permitted to bring non-elves here?" Grayth asked.
"It's not encouraged, but you don't need to worry about it," Araevin replied. "If you'll follow me, I'll arrange quarters for you, and a good dinner. I don't know about you, but I am exhausted, and I could use a few hours' rest before we address any serious business."
"A sound idea," Grayth said. "I'm afraid that I'm in need of something else to wear, though. Everything except my weapons and armor were with the pack horses."
A shadow passed over his face as the human cleric's thoughts turned dark, and he seemed to sag with weariness.
"We'll provide anything you need," Ilsevele answered. "Come; this is Evermeet. Walk in wonder, for you will see sights and hear songs few humans-or genasi-have ever shared."
They passed beneath the gatehouse of the keep, where Araevin found a guard of determined warriors eight strong watching the gates. The guards eyed Grayth and Maresa with no small suspicion, but agreed to allow them to pass as long as they remained with the two elves. Araevin requested the Tower's major domo to arrange rooms for his guests, and saw Grayth and Maresa to their chambers before Ilsevele and he returned to his own apartment. They bathed and changed into comfortable robes, ate heartily of the dinner sent up by the kitchens, and lay down together on Araevin's divan to drift off into Reverie.
At moonset, a few hours before dawn, Araevin rose, dressed, and carried the second telkiira down to his workshop. He was pleased to find that the room was much as he had left it, everything more or less in its place, but Ilsevele accompanied him despite his protests.
"I may be at this for hours," he told her. "There is no telling what spell I might need to open this stone."
Ilsevele shrugged and patted her hip, where she wore her sword and Araevin's lightning wand.
"I don't know if it would be wise for you to be alone," she said. "If demons start popping out of the air to take that loregem away from you, I intend to contest the issue. Besides, our human and half-human friends won't be up for hours yet, so I have little better to do."
Araevin shrugged and began to scrutinize the second telkiira. First, wary of traps, he cast a spell to study the magical aura of the stone. Philaerin's loregem might have been safe, but that didn't mean the others would be. To his surprise there was a powerful abjuration embedded in the lorestone, which might have indicated the presence of a deadly trap. He examined the defensive spell closely, and decided that it seemed to be keyed to function only against specific enemies.
"This is interesting," he murmured. "The loregem is screened by powerful defenses against divination. It would seem to be very difficult, if not impossible, to search it out by means of magic."
"But you could sense its location, once you had opened the first stone," Ilsevele said.
"Yes, but I think that might have been the only way to circumvent the defense. So, if you didn't have the first stone, you would not be able to locate the second. Even then, the loregems seem to be keyed to refuse certain users."
"Like who?"
"I am not certain. It's possible to key magical wards of all sorts to recognize or refuse particular people. You can make a magic door that only opens for an elf, or a person who does not serve evil, someone who knows the right password or performs a specific action like casting a particular spell… This telkiira is warded against some, but open to others. Fortunately, it seems that I am not prevented from studying it closer."
"Someone went to a great deal of trouble to make sure that these telkiira would not be easily found or opened by the wrong people."
"Exactly. Let's see if I can open it." Araevin peered very closely into the gemstone, and glimpsed a glyph similar to the one he had seen in the first telkiira when he had examined it in Seiveril's sitting room. This one was subtly different. He spoke the words of his deciphering spell, hoping to identify the rune so that he might name it and thereby master it-but the glyph remained mysterious and unchanged, inscrutable.
"Well, that didn't work," he said.
"You can't open it?"
"I didn't say that. I'll just need a different ap-proach."Araevin thought about the puzzle, and tried a spell of erasure, an enchantment designed to render glyphs and symbols powerless, but that failed as well. He followed that with an attempt to dispel the telkiira's defenses and bypass them in that manner, but whomever had created the stone had been a wizard of no little accomplishment. Araevin could not begin to unravel even the least thread of the spell.
Frowning, he set down the stone and paced away, thinking hard. He had exhausted the spells most likely to be useful, though he hadn't made the effort of preparing every spell his mind could hold that morning. With a few minutes' study, he could press another spell or two into his mind. The only question was, which one would do the trick?
The only other option he could think of was a spell invoking a vision. It was difficult and not without risk, but he had no other ideas at the moment. He went over to his shelf of spellbooks and pulled down the appropriate tome, carrying it over to a reading stand and whispering the passwords needed to open the book safely. He flipped through its heavy vellum pages to the right spot, and began studying the spell intensely. In fifteen minutes, he decided he had impressed the spell into his mind as well as he could, and he straightened up.
"That should do it," he said.
"What are you going to do?" asked Ilsevele.
"Provoke a vision."
Araevin moved back over to the table on which he had set the telkiira, and rested his hand atop the small dark stone. Then he carefully intoned the words of the spell. The stones of the tower seemed to reverberate with the force of his magical words, and the theurglass windows hummed and rippled in response. Ilsevele watched with growing alarm, but Araevin finished the spell, and knowledge poured into his mind.
He saw the three telkiira, lying together in a velvet-lined case. An old moon elf wizard in ancient robes held the case, standing in the conjury of some unknown elven tower. He handed the stones one by one to three younger elves. Faint whispers of the long-ago names crawled through the shimmering, streaming view: Kaeledhin, Sanathar, Morthil, and the name Ithraides, the name of the moon elf mage who inscribed the telkiira long ago. He watched as the mage Ithraides drew glyphs in each telkiira, and he glimpsed the names of the second and third runes: xorthar and larthanos. Then the vision spiraled away from him, and his own true surroundings returned to him in a dizzying rush. Araevin gasped and sagged to his knees.
"Araevin! Are you well?" Ilsevele asked as she hurried to his side.
"A moment," he said. He waited for the weakness to pass, then rallied. "The spell is strenuous, but I think I have what I need now."
"Maybe we don't need to see what is in this second stone," Ilsevele said as she helped him to his feet.
"I have already cast the spell. I might as well use the names I have learned." Araevin picked up the second telkiira again, and held it close to his eye. This time, as he studied the shimmering glyph hidden in its depths, he spoke confidently: "Xorthar." The inscribed symbol gave off a flash of blue light, and the telkiira opened its knowledge to him.